Coen the Shady One
by White Night Dragon
Summary: What would happen in Chuunin Exam when somebody, not usually seen, would step out of the shadows to protect certain silver eyed girl? Who is he, how does he intend to do it, and most important of all - will he succeed? Short history of new ninja in Konoha
1. Chapter 1

Author's note : Hello everyone. This is my first fanfiction, so I expect you to scold me a lot about mistakes I'm about to made, gramatic or others. You should know one thing - I'm grateful to you for it! No, really, if your reviews will be meaningful, I will only thank you for them, because they will help me to become better writer and write more stories about Naruto and the others. English is not my mother language (I even stated it in my profile), but I will work hard to make as few mistakes as possible, and if you help me by telling me what I wrote wrong and how to write it right, I'll be really grateful.

EDIT : I would like to thank chellythemadhatter for helping me with grammar in my stories. And I can see there will be a lot of work on them, so I'll update all six chapters as soon as possible to get rid of all the misspellings. Also, seeing how my knowledge of english is pretty dull, I'm going to look for a beta-reader before I put any other stories here. I think it's unfair for people who wants to read a good story, and they can't enjoy it just because the author is such a moron :).

EDIT 2 : Okay, I'm sorry to all of you, but I have to ask you not to read this story yet. So far, only my first chapter is rid of grammar mistakes (at least I hope so) so until my indispensable beta reader helps me with other chapters, I must ask you to be patient and wait. Also, I won't post any other chapters or stories before they'll be repaired, so I'm sorry again for delays, but I want you to have something good to read, and that can't be done with all the mistakes I'm doing so far. I'll edit this chapter again when everything will be fine, and I'll be posting another chapters again when they'll be ready. Sorry for the delays once again.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any character mentioned in my stories.**

***********************************************************25 days before Chuunin exam*****************************************************************

He stood nearby and watched.

It was the only thing he could do, and so far the only thing that he was really doing. And he was restless; after all these years, this was his first and only task.

_Watch the host of Nine-Tailed One. Protect him, watch him, and if he becomes a threat to our village, kill him. Without remorse, without mercy and without hesitation._

At that time, he didn't fully understand the meaning of the last sentence. His teachers made sure that he had no emotions. As far as he could remember (and his memory was good indeed) he was punished severely for every show of emotion. He showed weakness – he was punished. He showed compassion – he was punished. He showed hesitation – he was punished. And when he lost control of himself and let his emotions drive him instead of his brain, they nearly killed him. Soon he learned that the only way to survive was to bury his emotions deep within himself and build walls around them so no one could see through them. What he really accomplished by doing this he discovered much later.

He stood in the shadow of a nearby tree in a flawless fighting stance which made him almost invisible and allowed him to attack or defend himself at any time. He stood there and watched the Nine-Tailed One preparing for his Chuunin exam. He was training along with that weird ninja, Jiraiya. Coen didn't know much about him, but already sent a message to his clan's archives to learn as much about the white-hair pervert as possible.

Clearly, neither of them noticed him so far, and he had to make sure that it stayed like that. Naruto had his hands full with his chakra-molding training, and Jiraiya was peeking on nearby girls, who were washing themselves in the nearby pond. He didn't understand why he was doing this, and didn't even care, as long as Jiraiya's attention wasn't pointed on him. Although he was watching them very closely so he wouldn't miss a single detail, he already sensed it when a messenger arrived.

There was no word-exchanging between them – the messenger just appeared next to him, touched his temple with two fingers, then stepped away and disappeared. By special technique, he transferred needed knowledge straight into his brain. While he waited for his brain to settle down with the new information, he continued in his efforts to keep Naruto and his trainer supervised.

_So, he is the famous Jiraiya-sama, one of the three legendary Sannins, student of the Third Hokage and master of toad summoning._ he thought, when he gained access to knowledge passed on to him. It was strange that such talented ninja would spend his day by peeking at girls and training Naruto, but nevertheless, it wasn't his job to judge him. His job was to watch them, to protect Naruto, and if he shows any intentions of threatening this village, to kill him.

He continued in his efforts for the rest of the day, until the girls left, annoyed Jiraiya-sama left too, and Naruto went to his house to rest before another training day. When both of them left the training grounds, he put his hands together in seal and with quiet 'Poof' disappeared in cloud of smoke.

* * *

The real one discovered what Naruto was doing in a moment when his clone dismissed himself. He made a mental note that he must make a new clone to watch over Naruto before dinner so he could watch over him throughout night, and then continued in his training. After all, even he was preparing for the Chuunin exam. And he was taking it very seriously.

_That new host of Nine-Tailed One doesn't look much stronger, even after his constant trainings. Why not take him down now, without waiting for him to overpower us? We should be able to destroy him with a single attack._

_Be quiet, I'm in the middle of training here!_

He landed a final punch, and his last opponent fell to the ground, unable to move anymore. Another two ninjas were lying there already, groaning and rubbing places where he punched them. He watched them for one second to make sure they weren't in shape to renew their threat to him, and then turned to his teacher, watching him from the line of training circle.

"Are you sure these are opponents equal to my level?" he asked, while he stepped away and took a towel to clean the sweat off. His teacher, of course, didn't say anything, but he knew that his instructor noticed that and next training will be far tougher than this one. But that was exactly what he wanted. Without strong opponents, he could never get stronger. And getting stronger was his only goal so far.

Well... _almost_ only goal.

"The Council orders you to come to them, before you leave," the voice resonated within the tense air, surrounding entire training room. He didn't move a muscle in response to it, but when he went through the door, he turned left instead of right and kept walking until he stopped before the dipterous door, guarded on each side by shinobi. As a first-hand witness, these guardians were far stronger than regular ninjas, and if he would show any sign of hostility, they would strike him down in a matter of seconds.

The door opened in surprising silence, allowing him to enter the circle-shaped room with twelve seats around the walls, and one higher seat right in front of the entrance. He continued to the small point in center, where he got down on one knee and lowered his head. Of course he didn't mean it – these people, and especially their leader, meant nothing to him. But it was a habit, a power-forced habit.

_You hate them, don't you? I can feel it, swirling inside you like tornado. Why don't you let it out? You know you want it to._

_No. You're the one who wants it. And shut up already!_

"Report about the Nine-Tailed One." said one of the persons in the lower seats. His (or her) voice was changed by special jutsu to make sure he couldn't recognize its owner. His face, along with the others, was covered in darkness, because only source of light in this room was from ceiling right above the center of the room, and pointed only on the mark under it.

"Naruto is still training for the Chuunin exam. His training is controlled by Sannin Jiraiya. So far he hasn't shown any signs of threat or awakening the Kyubi."

After that, he waited in deep silence, while the others discussed the message he brought. He had a hunch that they already knew that, maybe even had some spies controlling him, but he didn't care. He did what they asked for, and that was all he was about to do.

"Orders for you remain unchanged. You will continue in watching the Nine-Tailed One. Be careful to not be noticed by him, and especially by Jiraiya." He remained silent because he knew this meeting couldn't be only about a single report and telling him what his remaining orders were. There had to be something more. And there was.

"We noticed that number of your training shadow clones has increased again, despite your lack of controlling your chakra." said another voice, this time deeper and screechy, but still completely nonhuman. "You should drop their number to the degree that we agreed upon."

"I have already dispatched more of them to continue in training of chakra molding and control. There will be no mistakes or accidents," he said, but he knew it wasn't enough for them. They took his trainings very seriously, and every little swerve from established order was discussed very intensively. And unfriendly.

The silence continued, which was the first sign something wasn't right. Usually they would automatically deny his request, or even tell him what to do without any debate. It wasn't like them to not order him to obey them.

"Your statement was noticed." The voice came from the higher seat. The kneeling shinobi had to call upon his teaching to not show any sign of surprise – the leader usually didn't say anything, even in important meetings. Although his opinion was considered as the most important of all, he rarely let others know it, letting them make all the decisions instead.

Another silent came in, and he had to focus very hard to not show nervousness. This must meant that they were debating very fiercely, and fierce debates never brought anything good. Last time, when he broke one of their rules, it was debate whether to let him live or not.

"All right." sudden voice broke through silence. "You are allowed to keep your current number of clones. But if any of them shows any weakness or you loose control, you will be punished." He didn't need to add that it would result in Coen's death – it was clear from the way he spoke. It was first time that his changed voice showed the slightest track of disagreement, maybe even anger, and that he would make sure that if he fails to defend his proclamation about his clone control, the Council would be most pleased to get rid of him for good.

With that said, he knew there wasn't anything left. He slowly stood up, turned around and left the room.

* * *

He returned to his house in a quiet and mostly empty part of the village. It was best for all – for his clan to keep him under the keen eyes of his spies, and for him to be mostly alone and not be disturbed.

He opened the door and went through the hall to the kitchen, where one of his two clones, constantly kept at home, was preparing food. The other one was sleeping to be able to stand awake all night and watch the house and surrounding area. His training was intensive and prepared him to expect attacks from anyone at any time.

The food was really simple, rice with pork and some fruit from his garden as a desert, but compared to food pills, which he was constantly eating during his training days (which meant practically seven days a week) it was a feast.

After dinner, he carefully molded his chakra to create a shadow clone to watch over Naruto's house. The clone disappeared right after hearing his mission, leaving the real one to clean himself and go to sleep.

Usually, he didn't have any dreams while he slept. He was either too exhausted or non-caring to think about anything, but this time was different. He couldn't help but think back about his meeting where he got permission to keep more of his clones for training. Although it was lucky for him, because more clones meant for him that he gets stronger in less time, he couldn't understand why they let him, even with his extra chakra control training. He knew that chakra control was one of his weaker sides, despite his unending efforts and exercises. It was probably all due to _it_.

_*Dream*_

"_You are such a stubborn person. Your attacks had no effect on me to begin with. It's over." said Neji, while looking at injured Hinata, who was lying on the ground. But at that time, she surprised them all when she was able to stand up. Despite her inner injuries and the shaking in her legs, she was there, refusing to admit defeat. Such show of a strong will awakened anger in Neji's eyes._

"_There is no point in acting tough. You are barely able to stand up. I can tell with these eyes that you have carried the destiny known as the Hyuuga Family. You cursed your powerlessness, and blamed yourself. But people cannot change. This is destiny. There's no need to suffer. Let yourself go."_

_And then, Hinata surprised them all a second time. Because she didn't give up. She talked back against her cousin._

"_You're wrong, Neji-nii-san. Because I can see... that you are suffering more than me." her soft voice flowed through the room like a spring breeze._

"_What?" Neji was getting more and more angry. And _he_ stood there, in the corner, and watched Hinata with emotions that he hadn't felt in a long time. Admiration. And compassion._

"_You are the one who is confused and suffering from the fate of the head and branch families." said Hinata, while breathing hard and holding her arm._

_And that was time when Neji lost control of himself. He charged up against Hinata with his Byakugan, prepared to kill her. Coen saw it in his eyes. And responded._

_Before the judge could get to him, even before the Jounins could get to him, Coen appeared before Hinata and let his anger speak through him, aimed his fist at Neji's face, but stopped when Neji paused at the intruder. Suddenly, all the others were there too, holding Neji back in case his anger got the best of him. Coen saw Neji's anger and surprise in his eyes, and was well aware that his mask, his emotionless face, was barely holding. But he managed to hold it, and looked right into Neji's eyes, cold, ruthless, and deadly._

"_If you lay a finger on Hinata," he heard his own words as if someone other spoke through him, "I'll kill you."_

"_Why did the other Jounins come out? Does the head family receive special treatment?" Neji almost whispered through his closed lips, anger resonating within his voice._

_He was well aware that even without his interference, other Jounins would stop Neji. He was also aware that Kakashi, as the only one, was swift enough to see Coen's attack too, and while holding Neji's arm with one hand, his other hand was on Coen's neck, prepared to knock him unconscious if he would lost his control as Neji. And he was also aware of the observer from his clan, looking at him from another corner. Without emotions, just like him, but his eyes were clear. Clear enough to show very strong disagreement to his actions. But at that moment, he didn't care for any of these things._

_Hinata interrupted that, falling to the ground, blood coming from her mouth. At that moment, he forgot all about Neji, kneeled next to her and looked to her face, hoping she will survive. He saw Neji's attack, and knew what he was aiming for. She could be dead in ten minutes._

_Then he saw his dream's self again, watching Hinata as she was carried away by a medical team, looking at Naruto who gave his promise to Neji to defeat him. He also saw Lee, interrupting Naruto's attack at Neji and posing his "nice guy pose" to his sensei, who gave him the same pose back. And he also saw himself, rising from his knees when he tried to help Hinata._

"_If Hinata won't survive this day, you won't either. I promise you that. And I also promise you" at that moment, he looked at Neji, and was using every bit of strength he had left to keep his mask. His mask lasted, but his voice didn't. "I also promise you that when we meet at the Chuunin exam, I'll kill you." With that spoken, he left the room, followed by no one registered observer. He knew what he had done, he knew the trouble he was in, but he also knew this – he will be Neji's opponent at the Chuunin's exam, and when that happens, he will use everything he had to destroy him. Without remorse, without mercy and without hesitation._

_*End of dream*_

He suddenly woke, sweat covering his body, short of breath. It was _that_ dream again – a dream which, sadly, was true. He really did it – he showed emotions, stood against one of the best rookie ninjas in Konoha, and even used what little influence he had on his clan to make sure he was chosen as Neji's opponent. It was that time they discussed whether to let him live or not, because showing something like this, especially in front of so many other ninjas, was almost unbearable. He still didn't know why they let him live, although he was punished – he could still feel scars on his body and mind, both from physical and mental torture. Yes, they were experts in such things.

_I'm telling you. You can kill them. We can kill them. Just let me out..._

_Stop it!_

It took a long time before he fell asleep again.

* * *

Author's note : Well, it isn't too long, and if you are not confused, I admire you. This chapter, along with few next, will just be something necessary to understand my story later, so I'm sorry if it's not heartbreaker or anything like that. If you managed to read it to the end, please spare a minute to review, it really makes writing worthy of the time.

- 3 -


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note : Hello, here's a second chapter of my story. I just hope it's better than first one. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any character mentioned in my stories.**

********************************************************Three weeks before Chuunin exam******************************************************************

Hinata was lying on her bed, peacefully, with her eyes closed. She wasn't nearly aware of flowers, which were brought to her hospital room. She also wasn't aware of small presents, left on the table next to her bed. And she wasn't aware of the stranger, staying behind the window and watching her, either.

He was visiting her as much as he could, despite the spies that were undoubtedly watching him. It was getting harder and harder to get rid of them to be able to spend a few minutes here, watching young kunoichi in her sleep, or lying with her eyes open, looking at new flowers or presents she got while she was sleeping. Carefulness was his second name – it had to be if he wanted to remain anonymous. All his gifts for Hinata were left at the hospital desk, with no one near them, only with her name and number of her room written on small paper. Only this way he could give her something.

Of course, he didn't have to give her anything. He _shouldn't_ give her anything. He should forget about her, stop visiting her and giving her presents, and focused on his training. Why did he care so much about her? They weren't even close to each other – he was sure Hinata wouldn't recognize him if she would meet him on the street. At least that was what he was thinking. And he had no emotions, too. He shouldn't even greet her if they would meet. He should pass her, without single word or even glare. So then, _why_ was he standing here, behind the hospital window and staring at her like he never saw her before?

_She's gorgeous. She must be tasty one. How about it? Only one taste of her blood..._

_Get back before I get angry!_

_Now that would be a nice scene, right? Hee hee..._

His senses warned him almost too late – he drew a kunai and pointed him at enemy stomach right when he appeared behind him. And at the same time, he felt another kunai on his neck.

"You're getting careless. If I would be a real enemy, you would be dead." said a person behind him, and then froze when he felt press of kunai on his stomach. He looked down, and then frowned. "Okay, okay – we would _both_ be dead. Better?"

Both kunais disappeared as two ninjas sat next to each other. Newcomer looked first at Hinata, then at flowers at her room, then on his mate. "You are really careful when you give her so many things, but you can't fool them forever. If you don't stop with these visits and gifts, they will discover it, sooner or later. And you have very tense relationships with the Council even now, Coen." His mate didn't move a muscle, but that didn't stop other ninja from scolding him.

"What did you think when you stood against Neji? Hyuuga clan is one of the oldest clan in Konoha, even if they may not be the strongest one. They have strong support from many sources, and promising one of them to be killed by you was like stir up a bee's nest, even if he is only from branch family." His voice lowered, probably because his user knew that he was losing control. "The Council is not pleased by your actions, Coen. You can't step over the rules forever. Special case or not, they will not tolerate anything that could put our clan to danger, or even worse, to draw attention to us. Mandore clan may be strong, but it's not our style to interfere with other clans. You must stop doing this, or you are really in for it."

"I don't even understand why you are doing this." he said, when he got no response from his fellow. "Do you like this girl or what? Let's put aside that we can't show any emotions. Even if you love her, she's not worthy attention you are drawing upon yourself. You should forget about her and find yourself another girl, at least some where you can tell the Council that you only have her for s..." he didn't finished sentence, because suddenly he could feel such enormous intent for kill that his hand grabbed his kunai before he could realize what he was doing.

_Yes! That's the spirit I want! Kill him! Kill him now!_

_Back off you damned monster!_

"Hey, don't get mad at me. It's not my fault! If you aren't chasing this girl for enjoyment, then you make absolutely no sense in your efforts at all. Why don't you just tell me why are you doing this?" he asked defensively, while trying to calm his heart. For a moment, he was sure that his friend would kill him.

Unfortunately, Coen didn't have answer for him. How _he_ should know why he was 'chasing this girl'? He only cared for her because he... he... and that was where he always got stack. He was thinking it over and over, but logically there was no reason for him to care for Hinata. Not a single one. Really. Or was there?

"Well, it's your life. I'm not going to stop you, but you should know that you are endangering not only yourself, but that girl too. If the Council concludes that this girl is source of all troubles you are causing, they could decide that it will be best for everyone to kill her." he said, before he disappeared.

Kill her! They couldn't do that! They simply couldn't... but at the same time, he knew that they could. It was logical – he was troublesome because of this girl, so simply removing the girl should solve the problem. And he would be powerless against this decision. Absolutely and utterly powerless. Even if he would protect her for 24 hours a day, they would find a way to kill her.

_You see? You are nothing without me. Use me, and we can destroy them in a blink of eye. Then you could spend an eternity with her..._

_One last time, be quiet!_

It was decided, then. He can't put Hinata in danger, not if there is another way. And besides, if he kills Neji, there shouldn't be anyone who would want to harm her. So, he should focus on him first, and on other problems in a moment when they appear. With this in mind, he put his hands together and disappeared.

No one, even his mate, noticed that window was slightly opened. No one noticed small sign from injection on Hinata's left shoulder. And no one noticed small ampoule with few drops of blood in Coen's pocket.

* * *

"How did it go, Tora?" shadowy person asked the young ninja, who was kneeling before him. They were in small quadrate room, lighted only by one candle on small table in corner. Despite the light, standing ninja was all covered in shadows.

"As expected, Master. Coen is preparing for his match with Neji, and he's taking it very seriously," answered the kneeling one. He couldn't see, but almost felt smile on the face of his master.

"And what about our sweet little Hinata? How is she enjoying her time in the hospital?" voice sounded almost amused. Tora cursed himself in his mind for being so obvious while trying to keep something in secret.

"She's doing fine. She gets some sort of gifts or wishes of soon recovery almost every day," Tora carefully controlled his voice to not show any disagree or concern. As he was still kneeling, he could only wonder why it seemed that his Master knew more than him. _Coen is in real problems this time_, he thought as he mentally sighed.

* * *

Back at his home, Coen went straight to the basement. There he had a special room equipped with special anti-eavesdropping equipment. It was there where his special training should begin. All his clones were training in normal things. One group trained in physical way – strength, reaction, speed, endurance. The others were training with chakra – molding, releasing, also increasing its pool, although this training was continuing very slowly. Another group was training with weapons in simulated combat actions – just like the one he was fighting today, yesterday and practically every day to memorize all he had learned and learn how to use it in real situations. But this training was his and his alone – he couldn't entrust this to any shadow clone. This exercise was for him only.

He took away the ampoule he filled with small amount of Hinata's blood. For unknown reason, he felt a strange trembling in his stomach when he stabbed the syringe needle in her shoulder, but he knew he did everything so she wouldn't notice and feel no pain. Beside, he needed it to prove his theory right. To make sure that he wasn't training all this time for nothing.

_Are you finally going to call upon my powers?_

_Never. I didn't need you before, and I don't need you now. Back off!_

_It's only a matter of time. You will call upon me, sooner or later..._

He carefully took one drop of blood and dropped it into prepared mini-injector. Then he took the injector, naked his left arm and stabbed injector in it.

Right when he did it, he molded his chakra and started to form seals. When he formed the last seal, he released all of his molded chakra, hoping his technique would work.

It was painful. It was even more painful than he thought it could be. He felt like his eyes should melt themselves and his whole body was shaking with extreme burden. He almost dropped on his knees, before gathering his strength and cursing himself for such weakness. If his teachers would see this, they would kill him immediately.

The pain was gradually increasing, until it hit the point where he started to scream. It was just too much, he couldn't help himself. But even screaming like a wounded tiger, he didn't break his technique.

After what seemed entire years, the pain in his eyes finally subsided into a point where he could open them. His body was still trembling, but he felt he should be able to move his arm. Very slowly, very carefully he started to search nearby table, until he pressed his fingers around a small mirror. He lowered his hand back to him, and looked into mirror.

When he did it, at first he didn't see any difference. It was still his face, his hair, his ears, his lips, his nose and his mouth. Everything.... except his eyes. He was looking at himself with white, pearl-like no-pupil eyes.

* * *

Finally! Finally! Only his harsh training in hiding emotions allowed him to not jump around like some idiot._ Finally I managed to force my kekkei genkai__ to work. Now..._ he formed seals, released his chakra and waited for effect. It didn't work at first, but he forced more chakra on it, until his entire body was almost burning with molded chakra. After extreme concentration and large amount of chakra released on this technique, his eyes finally awoken.

_Byakugan!_

Suddenly he could see right through his walls. He saw his two clones, one as he was checking entire house to ensure everything is on place, while other was carefully moving between hidings constructed around his house, from where he could watch without being watched. He could see their chakra circulatory system; their chakra was flowing through their bodies.

_If you would use my powers, you would awake it much sooner. Just accept that you're no genius._

_I accept only you, and it takes me every ounce of strength to not throw up. Leave me alone!_

It was futile. He knew it, and his teachers knew it as well. Nobody ever spoke about it, but after many tries and examinations from specialized medical ninjas, his kekkei genkai was rendered unable of awakening. They stated that it could change when his body will go through pubescence when he reaches 19 or 20 years. But he didn't give up, at least not really. He was still trying, wasting his energy and chakra, without any sign of progress or improvement. But now, when he tried, when he had a plan, instruments and even a blood of someone with Byakugan, he had awakened it. His own kekkei genkai, his Bloodline Limit – the ability to acquire and use kekkei genkai of another person, if he had at least a drop of his or her blood. Now he has gained it.

_Hinata, I'm doing all of this because of you,_ he thought, before realizing what he was thinking and shutting that door in his mind. He couldn't distract himself with such things – he still had a long way to go. He was able to use his Bloodline Limit, but his body was barely able to move, his chakra supply was almost entirely draw out, and he didn't know a single technique that uses Byakugan. But he was determined to spend all his shadow clones on training, even 24 hours a day, if it was necessary. He will learn how to use Byakugan. He will master it. And he will beat Neji with his own powers.

_Really? Really with your powers only? Somehow I doubt it, hee hee..._

* * *

Author's note : Okay, that's it for second chapter. Third will be out soon, and probably the longest one from all I wrote so far.

- 3 -


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note : Third chapter of my story. Now it starts to get more interesting, at least I hope. Have a good time, and thanks to all of you who reviewed, I really appreciate it.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any character mentioned in my stories.**

*********************************************************Two weeks before Chuunin exam*******************************************************************

Coen quickly stepped forward, dodging enemy's punch, parrying a flying kunai and landing a five quick punches into enemy stomach, ending his match. He was breathing hardly while looking on three bodies on ground, each one either unconscious or without energy to move.

It was exactly as he thought. Council didn't take any direct action against his increase of shadow clones, instead they tried to discover whether it really weakened him or not. That was why, instead of one, he got three opponents in training circle, and fifth time this afternoon.

He could feel drops of sweat flowing down from his cheeks and forehead as well as fatigue in his muscles. Of course he knew what they were trying to do. None of these opponents were too dangerous. Strong, swift and skillful, but not dangerous. Their only purpose was to slow him down, tire him and make him weaker for one last opponent, which should be real challenge for him even in full strength.

"All right, Coen-kun, time for your last opponent," said judge, while others around carried his opponents away from the circle. He didn't move a muscle to show his disdain against their "so-transparent" plan to make him look weak, and instead watched another ninja as he stepped into the circle. He looked almost unhealthily pale, which strongly contrasted with his short black hair and even darker eyes, but his movements were almost as Coen's. Lazy, slow, fluent. With strength hidden within them.

Coen knew that despite his best efforts to maintain his strength during fights with others, he was exhausted. If this battle takes too long, he'll loose. He had to win as soon as possible.

_You know you can use me. Now is perfect time. Show that losers what you are really capable of._

_No! I will handle it myself. Don't you dare to interfere!_

"Be-" before judge had even chance to finish second letter of his sentence, Coen rushed forward with intention to land one good punch and beat his opponent. But he underestimated him. Heartbeat before his fist got to him, ninja disappeared. Coen instantly felt him behind, and quickly turned to block attacks that would be deadly even for him. After third blocked punch, he realized that this guy was serious. He wasn't attacking him to hurt him. He was attacking him to kill him.

Coen quickly called upon his left strength to push his enemy off him, but he knew he was at disadvantage. Not only that he was fighting all day, his opponent was undoubtedly watching him all day, studying his style of fight and strategy. He must come with something new, and quickly, before he loses. While blocking another round of attacks, he focused on the only plan that he was able to come with and threw a smoke bomb on ground, creating a thick cloud which covered him from enemy's sight.

Ninja stopped his attacks, carefully searching area surrounding him. He knew that Coen had some plan. And he was determined to not fall for it.

Suddenly, ground beneath him started to crack. As he looked down, he saw Coen jumping from hole, aiming for his chin. He was quick, strict and gave his full strength in it. It would work on every other opponent. Except this one.

Ninja dodged it in last possible moment, turned around and kicked Coen in stomach. It was brute attack and sent Coen to the ground without breath and strength to get up. Ninja came to him, prepared to finish him off without emotion in his face except cruel smile in his eyes. Just as he prepared to hurl final blow which would crushed Coen's ribs and damaged his internal organs, the body on ground with "Poof" disappeared.

Ninja didn't have time to even curse his own recklessness as he felt presence not under, but above him. As his eyes moved from his-now-disappeared victim to the air, a fist landed on his forehead with immense strength as real Coen jumped off from ceiling. The punch was too strong and unexpected and sent him to the ground, where impact finished Coen's attack and sent him unconscious.

Coen almost fell on his knees as he landed on floor. Creating a shadow clone in middle of battle was always difficult and hanging on ceiling with his last punch took him everything he had. But he knew that he won. As judge had said this was his last match, and he couldn't go back on his words now. As he looked at judge he could see a strong displease in his eyes and knew that he was right.

"Winner of the match, Coen-kun," said judge, his voice completely without emotions swirling in his eyes. When he looked at beaten ninja, Coen was certain that they will make him pay for not beating him, but he couldn't care less. First clash against Council ended by his victory, and that was all that mattered.

He managed to get out of the room before he fainted.

* * *

"If it wasn't for that last trick, you would be in serious problems right now," said Tora as he was treating Coen's wounds. Coen was lying on his bed in clan's apartment where he was spending his time between trainings, and agreed to let his body be checked by his fellow. Or to be more accurate, he didn't have enough strength to prevent him from treating him.

_He's right. You can't win all your matches with just cheap tricks. You need power. Power..._

"I told you that Council will do something if you keep disobeying them. Now you can see the results of your stubbornness," ninja was continuing in scolding Coen as he was covering his backs with healing ointment. "The best you can do now is to keep low profile and not do anything stupid. Focus on your match with Neji, and don't give Council any excuses to keep their efforts to prove you unworthy of special treatment they provide you."

Coen just looked at Tora with no interest in his eyes, showing what he was thinking about Council's actions. "You worry too much, Tora," he whispered in attempt to not show that although hands of his friend were careful, it was still painful to feel them on his backs.

"And you are too light-minded. Don't say I didn't warn you when you discover that they ordered your assassination for not carrying out their tasks," Tora frowned as he finished treating his friend's wounds and got up on his feet. "Just promise me you will be careful."

As usually, Coen didn't promise him anything, so he just went outside of the room and closed door behind him. Everything would be much simpler if Coen wouldn't be such hot-blooded young boy. But no, he had his own mind and his own way of doing things and it was dangerously different from Council's own wishes. One time there won't be anything he can do for his friend and that may be his end.

Shaking his head, Tora silently disappeared in shadows of the corridors of his clan's residence.

* * *

"You disappointed me. Mandore clan doesn't need ninjas who can't complete even the easiest tasks," voice cut through the air like whip, and kneeling ninja lowered his head. His master was angry, and he knew it was his fault. Simple task – defeat that ungrateful bastard after the others fatigued him. It should have been simple. And he royally blew it up.

"Get out," order was strict, and ninja disappeared second after hearing it. The standing figure remained alone in the room, looking into the wall, but not seeing it. _After all, it doesn't matter, _he thought as he was staring. _He can't avoid my grasp forever. He'll step on the wrong foot sooner or later. And then, victory will be mine._ No one was there to see a devil-like expression on his face.

* * *

Later that day, Coen was back at his own house, regaining strength from his matches today. _One extra food pill should be enough_, he thought as he pulled small brown grain out of his pocket, put it in his mouth and swallowed it without any sign of delight or enjoyment. Food pills had no taste, eating them was only in order to remain strong, not because he would enjoy it – but they fulfilled their purpose.

_All right, time for reviewing my clone's training_, with this in mind he stood up, concentrated, and slowly began to release his clones, one by one. With each one, he could feel a wave of their strength, their experience and their knowledge, not mentioning techniques they managed to learn or master. When last of them was gone, he could feel much stronger, but also worn out. Still, he pulled out another mini-injector he prepared when he awakened his kekkei genkai, stabbed it into his arm, and called upon his chakra.

_Byakugan!_

His clones were really training like dogs. This time, he didn't have as much problems to withstand the pain as last time he tried. Now it was time to see if his clone, appointed for watching Hyuuga's residence along with their branch family's training grounds was successful enough. He quickly concentrated, created one shadow clone, and without any warning dropped into the battle stance.

_Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!_

He could see it! The patterns that showed him his clone's tenketsus. As he moved against him with greater speed than anytime before, he could feel chakra concentrating in his hands, creating a deadly weapon.

_Two strikes!_

He hit two of his clone's tenketsus, effectively cutting them out of chakra circulatory system and closing them. His clone flinched as Coen's fingers landed on him. And he wasn't done yet.

_Four strikes!_

_Eight strikes!_

_Sixteen strikes!_

_Thirty-two strikes!_

He was hitting his own clone mercilessly, disabling his chakra system, thus making him unable to use any jutsu. As he landed last series of blows, his clone dropped on his knees and disappeared before he could hit the ground.

It was even better than he expected. Well, except that his vision started to become blurry. And he could feel his chakra depleting quickly, too.

_I'm still telling you to use my powers..._

_Back off!_

Damn, although his Bloodline Limit allowed him to use his enemy's techniques, even those that required their Bloodline Limit, he still needed far more chakra than they to use them. And his chakra training was going pretty slow despite the number of shadow clones he dispatched on to training. He must find another way how to use them without depleting himself so much or he won't be able to defeat Neji.

With that in mind Coen slowly dropped on his sofa, thinking about it. Actually he was thinking about two ideas right now. Normal people would balance those ideas and chose one that looked better or had higher chances of success. But he wasn't like normal people. He knew that he would do everything for winning. Well, almost everything. He had his honor after all – he didn't want fight with Neji in weakened state or disabling him in any way. He wanted fair match with both of them at they top – that will give him much more satisfaction when he will see Neji lying on ground.

He slowly nodded as he stood up and swallowed another of his food pills. The time has come to dignify the Hyuuga residence with his presence.

* * *

It was dark, moonless night. That suited best for Coen's night visit of Hyuuga's residence, since he didn't plan to ask any Hyuuga to let him in their archives. Not only he knew they would refuse – they could also tighten their security, making it more difficult for him to pass through them unnoticed. He didn't even need their Byakugan to see their guards – too proud, too sure of themselves. Maybe they even didn't believe that there would be someone out there who would be so brave or so stupid to try get past them. If it was like that, they were terribly wrong.

Although it was draining him of small chakra supply he had left, he reactivated his Byakugan to get safely past the branch family guard outposts and into main family residence. Not that he really needed it or whatever – he just wanted to be sure that they didn't have any hidden guards. It was old trick – put some obvious guys where everyone could see them to put them in false sense of safety, and surprise them when they started to get reckless. If it was this cause, he was prepared for it.

He got into the residence without any problems – with activated Byakugan he could clearly see all of his inhabitants, as they were sleeping or moving on patrols, although he didn't believe that they were really searching for enemies. He didn't know exactly where they had their archives, but founded it almost instantly – nothing is too difficult when you can see through walls. _Well, here goes the easy part of my mission, _Coen thought while sneaking into their library.

The size of their library surprised him – there were far more books than he was counting on there would be. It would take him too long for him to search them all, and he didn't have more than few hours before the sun rises. Although he didn't want to do it, he reached into his pocket, and drew another food pill, this time with dark purple color. As he swallowed it, he could feel his body weakening as his chakra circulatory system suddenly started to go wild – it took him great deal of his will to keep it calm. Any sudden burst of chakra in middle of Hyuuga main clan's residence would be like a beacon for all patrols out there. As he could feel his physical power slowly returning, he stood up and created five shadow clones, feeling that he couldn't make more if he wanted them to be able to help him. As he quickly explained his plan to them, each of them nodded, took out their own injectors and stabbed them in their arms, activating Byakugan. While one of them was only assigned of guard job, others quickly spread over the archive, searching all books with their white eyes. _This will be a long night indeed_, Coen sighed as he continued in his searching.

* * *

Ninja on wall started to look around him, as he felt a faint, but unmistakeable surge of chakra. "Byakugan!" he whispered, as he started to search for source of this strange chakra activity. As he started to think that maybe it was only his imagination, he noticed about six weak presences in main residence's archive. _There shouldn't be so many people in the middle of night,_ he thought, and concentrated more to recognize them. As he was expecting, he recognized none of them. _Thieves! Bandits! Maybe even murderers!_ As he took his breath to raise the alarm, a shadowy person suddenly appeared behind him, silently knocking him unconscious with one hand while laying him on ground with second. When he got the guard there he quickly formed seals, creating an illusion of solid stone around him. Until he wakes up, no one will find him here. Without any other movement or checking surrounding area, he continued in his way to Hyuuga residence.

* * *

Hinata suddenly woke up, her throat painfully dry. It was the same dream again – as she stood against Neji and was so shamefully defeated in front of her friends. Kiba, Shino... even Naruto saw how she was unable to stand against her cousin. She felt ashamed for this even now. It didn't matter that she tried – only important thing was that she had lost. Her father was telling it to her in every occasion that occurred.

She carefully got off her bed as she wanted to visit a kitchen for some water. Usually she brought some to her room but she didn't expect the hospital to release her two weeks after her injury and her body was still worn out from not training. She quietly sighed as she started to look for path to kitchen.

* * *

Coen was still searching through the loads of books, when he suddenly noticed his guard shadow clone giving him signals to hide. He quickly warned other shadow clones, while he fell back to the furthest wall from entrance. As he was calming his heart, he quickly searched for source of his clone anxiety. Yes, there it was – a single person just outside of the library. But he was moving slowly, almost as if he was injured or something. He concentrated more, although his eyes were burning like molten spears. Yes, that person's chakra circulatory system was weak, as if he was suffering from some old injuries. It was almost as if...

_No! It can't be she! It can't!_ As Coen was trying to calm his suddenly emotion-filled mind he noticed a slight move by corner of his eye. Years-trained reflexes took out and he threw a kunai before he realized what he has done. A rat squeaked loudly as kunai stabbed her to the ground, killing her in second. Damn!

* * *

Hinata suddenly stopped. Did she hear a rat's squeak right now? She looked on the entrance to library. She didn't like rats – not that she had many chances to see them, but if any was in their archive, it could do an unrepairable damage to their records. She mentally sighed as she opened the door, determined to find a source of that sound before she gets back to her bed again.

She was hesitant to call upon her Byakugan, not sure that she could handle it only day after she was released from hospital, but it was so dark that she couldn't see a thing. "Byakugan!" she concentrated her chakra and called upon her kekkei genkai. As she started to look around the archive, her heart almost stopped. She saw a person right on the other side of archive! And two more on right! And another three on left! As she was slowly trying to walk back from the archive, trembling in fear, she suddenly bumped into something solid behind her. As she moved her eyes, she could only see a deathly flash of moving kunai.

* * *

Coen reacted swiftly as lightning. He could see Hinata enter the room, and he knew that she could see him in moment she activated her Byakugan. But when she started to walk back, he noticed a person behind her. Person with kunai in his hand.

He jumped forward, running faster than anytime in training. He moved between Hinata and unknown attacker, parrying the kunai with his own in one hand while pushing Hinata to side where he knew another clone was ready to catch her. His body was reacting so quickly that he didn't have even time to think what the hell he was doing. As he pulled the enemy back, he saw that he was dressed in same clothes as he was – black uniform with mask on his head, showing nothing else than two eyes. It wouldn't be so strange, except that his Byakugan spotted a brooch on the left side of his chest under the shirt. He knew that brooch. It was sign of his clan!

"Tora? What are you doing here?!" he whispered, forcing himself to not sound angrily, taking one step back but not hiding his kunai. It could be an enemy who killed him and took his things to try to confuse him for his old mate. If it was this case, Coen was to make sure that he won't get out of here alive.

Luckily for his opponent, he could hear his friend's unmistakeable voice. "Coen? Is that you? By Gods, what happened to your eyes?" Tora quickly pulled back while he hid his kunai.

"How did you find me?" asked Coen instead of answering Tora's answer. Sketchy look around him told him that they were still alone but he couldn't tell for how long. Although they clashed their kunais only once he didn't know how many people had heard them.

"It was pure luck. I found your trace as I was returning from my training in woods. And when it ended before Hyuuga residence, I was sure it was you," Tora whispered as he slipped along his friend and got back into the archive. Coen quickly went after him, gesturing toward one of his clones to guard again.

Hinata was lying on the floor with her eyes closed. Coen could feel his heart going numb until Tora put his fingers on Hinata's neck. "She will be alright, she just passed. Probably from exhausting herself by activating her Byakugan," said Tora as he looked curiously in Coen's eyes. He just avoided Tora's glare, looking aside, but when he looked back on Hinata and then on kunai in Tora's hand, the air around them suddenly became colder.

"Trust me; I didn't know it was she. I wouldn't harm her. I only wanted to make sure that she won't raise alarm," whispered Tora as Coen's fingers pressed his kunai stronger. He wanted to say something else but suddenly he raised his head, dangerous look in his eyes. "They are coming."

Coen looked around with his Byakugan. Exactly as Tora said, their little charade had drawn unwanted attention. His clones noticed it even sooner than him – they were already gone, heading to settled safe spot in woods. He should head there too, but he couldn't help himself to not look again on Hinata, lying there with such scared expressions even though she was sleeping. His heart almost frozen at that picture.

"Coen, we have to go _now_!" Tora didn't wait for his friend's answer, he simply grabbed him and dragged him out of there while Coen's mind was full of images of Hinata, scarily walking back while kunai appeared on her neck.

_She looked tasty, didn't she? You could take her with us. Such tasty body..._

_Don't you dare to speak about Hinata in such ways!

* * *

_

Hiashi looked around, but he couldn't see anything – according to his Byakugan, entire mansion was empty, except of squad of main and branch family guard members, searching through the area. Two of them were already in the archive, where they found Hinata – she was slowly awakening as Hiashi was looking on her and waiting for report.

"Hiashi-sama, we searched whole residence and surroundings. There is no sign of enemy presence or anything else. The entire area is safe," reported captain of his guard, while kneeling before Hiashi. He nodded, and captain disappeared, undoubtedly to join the security team. As Hinata slowly regained consciousness, she saw her father and gulped.

"Hinata, what were you doing here?" he didn't have to put much effort into it to let his voice sound cold and dangerous. Hinata knew that tone well enough – she heard it every time she disappointed her father. That meant she heard it every day.

"Um... I-I was th-thirsty so I w-went to get some w-water, and when I w-was going b-back, I, um... I t-thought I h-heard s-some rat in the a-archive, s-so I went t-to look, and... I m-must had p-passed out..." Hinata managed to say, before her voice died out under her father's cold stare. She knew what he was thinking – his oldest daughter had passed out when she saw a rat. Hinata had to give it all she had to hold back tears in her eyes.

"Captain," although Hiashi's voice wasn't loud, ninja appeared instantly. "Take Hinata back to her bed and make sure she won't come to harm." "Yes, Hiashi-sama," captain nodded, as he gently helped Hinata on her feet. Although she was glad for helping hand, she could feel her father's glare on her back all the way to her room. _Disappointment_.... That word was coursing through Hinata's mind all the time before she managed to fall asleep.

Hiashi looked around one more time. Maybe there was no enemy presence, but he was almost sure he could feel something right before he got close enough to be completely sure. Even if his daughter had passed out only because of rat, there could also be enemies, trying to capture her again, like when Hinata was three-years old.

"Captain, tighten the security. I don't care if it was really a rat or enemy's reckoning force, nothing will get into my house this night. Did I make myself clear?" "Yes, Hiashi-sama!" captain nodded, and started to give orders to his men. Hiashi watched them for one second before he turned around to go back to his bed. Although he made it sound like there could be enemies it won't stop the rumors that had already got out.

_Main family's oldest daughter had passed out when she saw a rat. The Hyuuga clan is getting old. They aren't as strong as they were_... He was neither blind nor deaf, he could hear these rumors all around him, especially from branch family members but also from some of the main family. He silently sighed as he got to his room.

* * *

"What the hell are you thinking you dumbass!" Tora soared above Coen, his fist clenched as he hit his friend directly on his face. Coen was slowly rising from land where he was knock down, rubbing the injured place.

"Do you even realize the shit you've got into this time?! Threatening them isn't enough for you – now you have to sneak into their residence? Do you want to murder Neji in his sleep or what? Are you out of your mind?!" he was almost screaming as Coen was looking aside. "And look on me when I'm talking to you!"

As soon as he dragged Coen, he instantly let him free, having that feeling again – the feeling of instant death around him.

_Kill him! He hit you. Kill him now!_

_No!_

"I'm serious. If Council got wind of this, you are dead. Instantly. No hearing, no agitation. They will write your sentence in matter of seconds. Nobody in entire clan would support you, and even if somebody would, it wouldn't matter to them. Don't you understand it?" he was almost begging as Coen slowly calmed himself, looking aside again. But this time he responded. "It was necessary."

"Necessary? Burgle into Hyuuga's main family residence was necessary?" he silently looked at him until something in his mind clicked into the right place. He pointed his finger on Coen in blaming pose. "You went there to see Hinata!"

As much as Coen was in mood to instantly refuse it he suddenly didn't find the inner strength. But he wasn't there to see her! He was there for his own bussines! But then again... when he saw her, all his emotions instantly returned. When he saw her face, it was like his stomach was shivering, and one look into her eyes made him forget everything he came there for.

_You see, even you admire her body. Wouldn't it be nice to take her? See her scared eyes, her trembling... feel the taste of her blood..._

_Get back before I kill you!_

_As if you would be capable of that, he he he...._

"Coen, snap out of it!" Tora was almost hysterical as he was shaking with his friend, returning him to the real world. "Maybe they couldn't spot you when you were checking on her in the hospital but there is no way you can remain unnoticed in their residence. That girl is not worthy of your death!" _Maybe she is_, Coen thought, but didn't say anything out loud.

"If you can't stop thinking about her, asks our medics! I'm sure they have some medicine that will calm you down, at least until this sudden burst of hormones wears off. If you keep pursuing her you will only cause trouble to both of you!" As much as he wanted to ignore Tora's voice, he knew he was right. What if Hinata remembered him from the Chuunin preliminary matches? What if she recognized him in the archive? Would she tell the others? From her point of view, he was intruder, an enemy. Would she be able to order his death if she would catch him on her clan's ground?

As he was trying to sort his confused thoughts he was interrupted by arrival of his five clones, each of them coming from different direction. He knew it was standard plan in retreating – coming to safe spot from direction that doesn't give a clue about original or destined point. He was glad that his clones were able to remember it even under the press of running from Hyuuga's residence. As he thought, all his clones came back empty-handed, except for one. He was holding a book. A book with mark of Hyuuga clan.

"What is it?" asked Tora while looking over Coen' shoulder, as Coen curiously opened it. When he did it, he knew it was it.

"The thing for which I came to Hyuuga's ground in the first place," he smirked as he felt the book in his hands. From now on, Neji's chance of victory dropped from almost zero to absolute zero.

* * *

Author's note : I hope you liked it. Next chapter will be a bit short, but I promise to write a long one right after it.

- 7 -


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any character mentioned in my stories.

* * *

**

„History book? Don't tell me you went through all that trouble to get a history book." Tora was looking on his friend with shocked expression in his face. Coen, as usually, didn't answer him, instead he was trying to decipher words on first page of the book. Tora gave up on getting any response from him, he rather stood behind his friend, reading the book over his shoulder.

"Hikome Hyuuga? Do you know that guy?" asked Tora, when he managed to read the author's name on the page. Coen slowly shook his head, and started to read other pages. Tora just mentally sighed, as he divided attention between the book and surroundings to make sure that they won't be ambushed by anybody. _Although, the chances that somebody would run into us here, deep in the woods slightly after the midnight, is real as much as Coen becoming a danseuse,_ he thought with a sign of sarcasm.

_Why do you lower to this? Forget about some stupid books. Just use my powers... and you will be unbeatable...

* * *

_

About two hours later, Coen finally closed the book, and started to run to his house without word of warning or notification. However, Tora was right after him. _I damn risked my life in getting in that house of white-eyes, I saved Coen from them, and I hell want to know what's going on here!,_ Anger was apparent in his eyes, although no one looked on him to see it. As he was chasing Coen through forest, he already started to make a mental list of questions he wanted to be answered. And he wouldn't take "no" or his damned silence as answer.

* * *

"So, you managed to awake your Bloodline Limit," Tora seemed really impressed, as Coen gave up on his friend pressure and explained a little about his night trip. "And this book," Tora pointed on rather-poor looking book on the table, "are memories written by founder of Hyuuga clan, Hikome Hyuuga, who describes his first attempts to master his Byakugan. And you're going to use this knowledge to gain advance in using Byakugan and defeat Neji with it? Impressive, really," Tora looked on his friend with proud look, but Coen just looked into the wall and didn't respond.

"So, what exactly did you learn from that book? Some super-strong jutsu? Or maybe an ultimate weakness of all Byakugan users?" Coen just passed him a paper, covered by his unreadable handwriting. Tora read it for about minute, before he looked at his friend again.

"Coen, but this doesn't make any sense. You just written here something about 'forcing chakra', but everybody knows that Byakugan is based on forcing your own chakra into opponent, thus damaging his internal organs or restricting his tenketsu from working. This isn't anything that..." before Tora had chance to finish sentence, Coen suddenly jumped from sofa while his eyes turned into pearl-like oval.

_Byakugan!_

Tora was caught off-guard; in moment his friend moved against him, he knew that he wasn't quick enough to stop him. Coen's palm landed on his shoulder, and Tora prepared himself for serious pain or maybe stopping his chakra system. Instead, he felt a slight increase in him as his chakra started to flow quicker in his body. He looked on his friend just in moment when Coen hit him several more times and Tora just felt his body starting to burn with extra chakra.

"Well, now this is interesting. You are able to increase enemy's flow of chakra instead of just decreasing it." Tora was enjoying a time when his body absorbed extra chakra forced into him as he sat back on the sofa. "Anything more you learned from that book?"

"Not exactly from that book," said Coen, as his eyes suddenly moved to the ceiling. Tora felt it as well but it turned out it was only another Coen's shadow clone, with 'another' book with him, which he dropped on the table and with quiet 'Poof' disappeared.

"Mind to tell me what is this book?" Tora started to feel angry. It seemed that his friend was stealing books from all around the village only to satisfy his own needs of knowledge, and he didn't tell him a single word about it. Now that is friendship, isn't it?

"Wait a minute," said Tora, as he recognized a mark on the dustcover. "That is mission-report record book from Hokage's office, isn't it?" he felt this night just couldn't get any weirder. First, he caught his friend burgle into Hyuuga's main family residence, and now it turned out that he broke in Hokage's archive as well?

"Coen, maybe you don't know this, but mission records are public open. You can go there in broad daylight and just ask for them..." Tora stopped as Coen pointed on a few records in there. Tora leaned forward to read them, and then he sat back with a confused look on his face.

_These are reports of S-rank missions. And Coen showed me missions accomplished by Hyuuga's clan members. Where's the point?_ He thought, as he was trying to solve this puzzle. Coen solved it for him.

"Look at this succession rate. And look here, on the survival statistics and mission description," said Coen, as he was carefully examining results of his work. Tora was looking on it for while and then he suddenly figured it out.

_All these missions were described as 'suicidal'. That means members had almost no chance of surviving, not mentioning to succeed in it. But these records say that all missions were completed successfully and all members survived. Well, except for the Hyuuga team members, that is._ Tora just sighed as he was trying to find logic in it. _So Hyuuga members who were sent on S-rank suicidal missions accomplished it without loss of a single team member, except themselves?_

"Coen, do you know what that means?" But Coen was just staring at wall, buried deep in his own thoughts. Tora sighed again; he knew this will be a long night.

* * *

_It actually means more than you think_, thought Coen, as he was studying both books again and again, making sure that he didn't miss a single detail. _It could be most important discovery which was Hyuuga clan trying to hide, which could explain why I was forced to steal this book._

_I already told you we don't need it. I'm all that you will ever need._

_Shut up!

* * *

_

"Coen, are you all right?" Tora closely looked at his friend, who looked for a while almost as another person. Maybe it was just his imagination, but deep in his eyes....

"Yes. I should go sleep now. Good night," he said as he took both books and disappeared. Tora frowned, but he knew his friend well enough. No more information from him this night. But it didn't matter – he could continue in it tomorrow.

_You know you will need me._

_Be silent. I don't need anything from you._

_Yes, you do. You never accomplished anything on your own. You will never be able to defeat genius like Neji. You will have to use me._

_We'll see about that.

* * *

_

At morning, Coen felt like he didn't have any sleep at all. He solved it by extra food pill and rougher morning exercise, but he was still feeling a little dizzy. _Maybe I can get rid of it by more training;_ he thought as he created three extra shadow clones for his Bloodline Limit exercise. He didn't have much time, as Chuunin exams were about to start in less than two weeks. He had to give it his all to fulfill his promise to himself and Hinata. _You may be a genius, Neji, but even you are powerless against my plan. I'm prepared better than you could ever be._

Tenten fall on ground, totally exhausted from training with Neji. She did her best and used every technique and weapon she had, and yet it seemed like Neji wasn't tired at all. "You don't even have scratch on you. You're good to go, Neji."

"I guess I will stop the light exercise here, and get going." said Neji, as he dropped into his battle stance, and charged against Tenten again, with arrogant smirk on his face. _You may try anything you want and everything you had. In the Chuunin exams, you don't stand a chance against me. I'll make you pay for embarrassing me and stopping my wrath. There is no one stronger than me!

* * *

_

- 1 -


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note : Sorry about late update. I'm afraid it's only going to get worse from now on, but I have still few chapters already prepared for posting, so when I will run out of them, you will have to wait before I write something new and useable. This chapter is finally one with some action, so I hope it will satisfy you a bit.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any character mentioned in my stories.**

******************************************************************Chuunin exam*************************************************************************

The stadium was absolutely full. All rows were filled up by people from Konoha, from the poorest classes to rich and powerful land lords, enjoying the view on so-far empty arena. The Chuunin exams were about to start in less than thirty minutes and almost everybody was already there, discussing who could be the winner this year. Many of the richer people were betting on their favorite Genins, which were either Hyuuga Neji, or even more popular Uchiha Sasuke. This year Chuunin exam had already two favorites, and their number could increase as the fights should continue, so everybody had high expectations about it and excitement was almost touchable.

Many of Genins who didn't pass the Chuunin preliminary exams came too, cheering for their teammates or ones they favored. Sakura and Ino were already there, looking for Sasuke to cheer up, while Chouji was eating his snacks with them, waiting for Shikamaru to show up. As he knew well enough, Shikamaru was lazy and with no enthusiasm, but his cleverness more than made up for it. Tenten was sitting far away from them with self-confident smile on her face. She had no doubt that only one Genin that could prove a challenge to Neji was Sasuke, and when she saw results of Neji's training, she was sure that Neji would beat him up.

Even some of the noblest clans showed up, as was declared by presence of Hyuuga Hiashi, leader of the main branch of Hyuuga family, and his youngest daughter Hanabi. It was public secret that he didn't acknowledge his oldest daughter, Hinata, which was only bolstered up by fact that Hinata wasn't with her father, as oldest daughter should be. Instead she was sitting right next to the rail with straight view on the sand-covered arena, with Kiba and Akamaru next to her. As her eyes scarily aimed on her father, she could feel another wave of sadness coursing through her, so she turned back on arena, which was slowly starting to fill up with Genins who passed up the preliminary exams. Five of them, Gaara, Kankuro and Temari, all three from Sunagakure, were already there, each showing very little enthusiasm about the exams, if any at all. Neji and Shino were there too, Neji with arrogant smirk on his face, Shino with his usual stoical expression. Shikamaru was just coming, sighing and complaining about the troublesomeness of the exam as he slowly joined others at the center of arena, along with a new judge ninja. Naruto wasn't anywhere nearby, which seemed a little strange to Hinata. She only hoped he didn't pass the exams. She knew he fought very hard to beat her teammate Kiba in the preliminary, so quit the exam now wouldn't be like him. Oh, and Sasuke wasn't there yet, too. It didn't bother Hinata as much as other people at stadium, who started to look rather nervous. And then...

Suddenly, she spotted another person, coming from the entrance to other Genins in center. She didn't recognize him, but she thought he could be the last of Genins who passed the preliminary. _He probably fought when I passed out_, Hinata was trying to get a better view of him. He wore a sleeveless dark vest, which left both his arms naked, along with long black trousers covering him from waist to ankles. His neck was hidden in long black scarf waving behind him and he wore sandals very similar to Hinata's, although she didn't realize it until Kiba mentioned it.

"Hinata, do you know him? I don't really remember him from preliminary," Kiba seemed rather curious as he was looking at newcomer. Hinata slowly shook her head, suddenly feeling a very cold without reason. As the feeling came, it suddenly disappeared without a trace, but it didn't calm Hinata at all.

Newcomer slowly approached group of waiting ninjas while he stopped next to Shikamaru, who clearly didn't care a bit about him. The same went for three ninjas from Sunagakure, but Neji was looking at him carefully, having a strange feeling about him. Ninja's head was hidden under a black cloth mask and area for eyes was covered too with extra half-transparent silky band, so it was impossible to see his face, unless of course Neji would use his Byakugan. But something told him that it was exactly what stranger was waiting for, so he just turned away from him and started to look for Sasuke, hoping he would be his first opponent.

"All right boys and girls, time is up. We should start..." judge's voice was interrupted by loud scream as Naruto flew into arena with scared expression on his face and stopped right before the judge. Shikamaru sighed as he helped Naruto to get on his feet.

"Everyone, run! The entire village's bulls..." Naruto started to scream, before the judge silenced him. "You two stand up straight and show your faces to the crowd," ordered, as he was chewing a senbon in his mouth.

Coen was just bored. Of course he was still keeping close eye on Naruto, as he didn't forget his main goal, but today was special. He released all of his training clones, along with the ones he could miss this day, so only ones left were two clones around the arena, appointed for watching Naruto. His main goal today was to beat up Neji, and fulfill his promise to Hinata and himself. He tried to find her face in the crowd, and almost succeeded, but judge's voice returned him into reality.

"There are some things I need to tell you before the matches. Look at this," he said as he showed them a paper with scheme of fights. As it turned out, first match was Neji with Coen, then winner of this match against Naruto, followed by Gaara and Sasuke, Kankuro and Shino, and finally Temari against Shikamaru.

"Eeeeh?! Why was my match against Neji moved?!" Naruto claimed angrily as he pointed his finger against Neji. If Neji or anybody else was surprise by this change, they didn't complain a bit.

"We had to make minor changes in scheme as some complications showed up. Don't worry, you will have your fight," said judge, as he hid the paper.

"And what about Sasuke? Can't we wait until he arrives?"

"I don't care whether Sasuke arrives here or not. If he doesn't come here by the time his match starts, he will lose by default." Naruto was only one to see surprised by judge's statement. He quickly looked at the entrance, but Sasuke wasn't anywhere near it.

"Listen up. Although the landscape is different, the same rules apply as in the preliminaries; there are no rules. The match will only end when someone dies or gives up. But if I decide the match is over, I will stop the match. Do not argue with me over it. Got it?"

_Like hell I would listen to you. Nobody will take my revenge from me. Nobody!_

_That's how I like you, Coen-kun. Angry and desperate..._

_Shut up!_

"The first match is... Mandore Coen and Hyuuga Neji. The rest of you need to go back to the waiting room." As others slowly approached the upstairs, Naruto still complaining about his match postponed, Coen slowly turned his look against Neji. He was forcing himself to stay calm, as he knew Council surely sent a few observers to follow him up. He had to follow his plan exactly, and there would be no mistakes or surprises.

* * *

"This should be interesting, right Hinata? It's your cousin against that weird mummy," Kiba laughed as Hinata smiled slightly, but inside she was quite worried. She didn't hold any ill will against Neji-niisan, but something about Coen-kun caused her a strange feeling coming through her belly. It was... it was almost as if she should know him, or like she already met him, but she didn't remember it. If only she could see his face, maybe her memory would refresh...

"Watch closely, Hanabi," said Hiashi, as he was keeping his stoical face, looking on Neji. "There is no one else who has inherited the Bloodline Limit of the Hyuuga as strong as him. Your older sister does not even compare to him."

"Even more than my sister?" Hanabi sounded surprise as she looked at her father.

"And most likely more than you."

_You don't stand a chance, whoever you are,_ smiled Tenten as she was looking at Neji. _No Genin is stronger than Neji._ _Even Sasuke will have to admire it when Neji beats him up. After he defeats you, of course._

"Now, first match... Begin!" Genma, the proctor of the Chuunin exam, stepped back and laid his hands on his chest. _Now we'll se who's stronger, loud mouth or bitter genius.

* * *

_

At first, nothing moved, except for a strong wind that blew through the arena, toying with Neji's hair and Coen's scarf. Both were looking at each other, both silent, both calm... both deadly.

"There is something I must tell you before you die, Neji-kun," voice was almost as weak as a whisper, but everybody in arena and on the tribunes heard it clear and sound. Although it didn't show any emotions, most of them knew that Coen was kidding Neji, joining the prefix after his name. Hinata trembled on her seat with ague as she heard it.

"Heh. Like I would let you even touch me," Neji's smirk was obvious, but his eyes were as cold as ever. Maybe even more than usually. As he activated his Byakugan, his eyes looked even more scarily than before.

"I'll make it clear for everyone and you especially. I won't kill you because you're such arrogant spoiled brat. I won't kill you because you tormented everyone around with your genius. I won't kill you because of your constant discontent with your so-called destiny." Coen's voice was lowering with each word, until it reached the depths where it sounded like an arctic breeze. And when he lifted his eyes, although nobody could see his glare, everyone could feel it. "I will kill you because you dared to threat Hinata, because you almost killed her in your self-centered attempt to feel better when she was the only one who told you you were only torturing yourself, and because you are constant threat to her. As long as you're alive, Hinata won't have a chance to live a happy life."

"Well well, seems like you care about Hinata a lot. You should know then that it was her own fault for standing against her destiny. You born weak, you remain weak. She tried to change it, and she ended on floor. Because you can't change destiny," Neji was still smirking, but his eyes hardened, while he slightly moved his arms to battle stance.

"Then I will rewrite that destiny. And I'll write your destiny, too. Your destiny is death!" with that, Coen pulled up his kunai from pocket on his back and charged against Neji.

* * *

"Fool! What is he thinking? He doesn't stand a chance against Neji with straight attack like that!" Kiba sounded worried, although Hinata knew he wasn't worried for Coen-kun. That voice... it somehow sounded familiar. But every time Hinata tried to remember, her head started to shoot impulses of pain in her forehead.

_Yes, he's right where Neji needs him._ Tenten had no doubt about the winner of this match.

_What did he mean by that?_ Hiashi curiously looked at Hinata, but she wasn't blushing, which would be a proof that she knew him. Instead, she just looked confused.

"That's right! Show that freak that his bullshit about destiny doesn't impress anyone!" Naruto was shouting loudly as always, causing Shikamaru to cover his ears, sighing about how troublesome it was to stand next to such loud person.

_Idiot,_ thought Kankuro, while Temari grinned and Gaara didn't react in either way.

* * *

Neji just stood still, and in last second, he moved against his opponent, stabbing two of his fingers in Coen's shoulder. As soon as he made a contact, Coen's eyes widened, and he pushed off Neji's hand as well as jumping back, creating a small distance between them. Neji's arrogant smile widened, until he looked closely on his hit.

_I missed_, he damned the luck that caused his arm slip just enough for Coen to avoid his tenketsu getting direct hit from him. _Doesn't matter, there will be more opportunities like that._

But Coen didn't charge at another direct attack. He first looked at his shoulder, then on Neji. After that, he slowly untied his scarf, tossing it away where wind took it and raised it to the sky. Then he quickly formed seals with his hands, while his chakra circulatory system started to pump up more chakra. Neji's eyes widened when he recognized what he was going to do.

_Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!_

Coen suddenly created a ball of lightning in his hand, and then charged against Neji again. Neji dropped into his battle stance, not a slightest worry in his mind. _That attack may be powerful, but one hit in his arm will stop his flow of chakra, thus making it disappear. Although, I thought that this technique allowed him to throw it..._

Surprisingly, Coen didn't try to strike Neji. Instead, he dropped to the ground right before him, hitting the ground beneath him. Lightning ball exploded, creating a huge explosion of sand, rocks and dust, forcing Neji to cover his eyes for a short while. When he sensed a flying kunais, he quickly moved to dodge them. Just when he thought he dodged them all, he suddenly felt a small scar on his cheek and drop of blood coming from it.

When the cloud cleared off, people saw Neji with angry expression on his face with small bruise, while Coen was staying aside with kunai in his hand. Even from the distance, everyone could see the blood on it.

_Phase one, success._ As Coen let a small smirk come on his face, Neji managed to regain his calm status.

"Impressive. You sacrificed your attack to create a distraction, and then attacked me from distance when I expected you to come closer. But it won't be enough to beat me," he said, as he prepared to be the one to attack this time. But before he could charge against him, Coen raised a kunai to his mask, touched it with his finger, and then licked it. Before anyone could get disgusted, Coen formed another series of seals, this time with his chakra system going much wilder. Chakra was almost leaking out of him, as it wrapped around his body, generating a scratchy noise.

_What's he doing? His chakra... how can he have so much of it?_ Neji didn't believe what he saw with his Byakugan.

"Whoa, it seems like that Coen-weirdo had an ace in his sleeve. This will be more fun than I thought," Kiba sounded really excited as he was looking on the battle. Hinata's eyes widened, as something started to occur in her mind. That chakra...

As chakra slowly started to fade, Coen reached with his arm on his back where he untied the band around his eyes, letting it fell on the ground. When it happened, everybody saw it. Everybody saw his eyes. The white, pearl-like eyes.

"What kind of trick is this?" Neji yelled as he looked on his opponent. "Nobody has a Byakugan except the Hyuuga family. Nobody!"

* * *

"Father, what is it?" asked Hanabi, while looking at two fighters in the arena. But Hiashi didn't answer. For one moment in his life, he was speechless.

"Amazing!" Naruto whispered as he was looking at Coen with wide opened eyes.

_How troublesome,_ thought Shikamaru.

_It can't be!_ Tented hadn't such shocked expression on her face for very long time.

The trio from Sunagakure didn't say a thing, except Kankuro seemed a little more interested in the fight now.

"Hinata, is he some sibling of yours?" Kiba was rather confused, while Hinata suddenly remembered. Those eyes... he was... he was...

_Now this is going to be interesting_, thought Genma with smile as he was observing both Genins from his spot.

_You unleashed your Bloodline Limit. Now we'll see if you are worthy of it_. Observer on one of the tribune was practically invisible, but his eyes were at Coen for all time.

_Please, be careful Coen. That guy has more tricks in his sleeve._ Tora was observing fight from the roof of the tribune, disguised by his illusion technique.

* * *

_How can he possess Byakugan? He can't be from Hyuuga family. I would know about something like that. How is he able to use it?_ Neji slightly changed his stance. Coen didn't react on this, just activated his Byakugan, when he dropped into exactly same stance as Neji. If not for the clothes and hair, he would look like Neji's mirror reflection.

"You were quick to judge and defeat Hinata with those eyes of yours. Now I'll do the same for you!"

Two ninjas charged at each other without warning, striking and parrying each other's attacks and assaults. Each of them knew that one land could be enough to be defeated. Strike against strike, they were fighting with everything they had, looking as two clones. No one was able to get past his opponent's defense, and no one was giving up on trying.

Neji was infuriated as all his blows were hold back. He is a genius! He should have no problem defeating this guy! He won't let it be his way! Neji raised his speed, moving almost twice as fast as he was before, but Coen became quicker as well, dodging and parrying every single one of Neji's attempts to get through his defense. The fact that he wasn't able to get through Neji's defense as well didn't satisfy Neji even a bit. The two Genins turned to sparkling whirlwinds of flashy glimmering as both were giving it their all to defeat their opponent.

Suddenly, Neji slipped. His feet turned off, and he lost his balance. Coen saw his opportunity, and quickly moved forward to strike at Neji, ending this match. He noticed Neji's smirk too late.

_Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin!_

Wave of chakra raised around Neji, swirling faster and faster as he started to rotate his body. Coen get caught in it and as Neji reached his highest speed, the chakra wave sent Coen flying back. At that moment Neji stopped with his move and dropped in new stance, prepared to finish that worm off. As he quickly stepped forward, he could see his opponent right in place where he wanted him.

_Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!_

Neji moved forward with almost untrackable speed, landing precise hits on Coen, effectively closing his tenketsu. With each hit he could feel a surge of confidence running through his veins. _As I thought, you were no match for me; _he landed last punch, and was looking when Coen dropped to the ground, his chakra circulatory system without any active chakra. Now he was practically powerless.

* * *

_No!_ Hinata's eyes filled with tears, as she saw Coen-kun's fall. It resembled her fight with Neji-niisan too much. And from the look on his words at the start of the match, he won't give up, just like she didn't. And if Neji gets angry again...

"Neji is really a genius. These techniques are reserved only for main family members, but it seems he managed to learn them on his own." Hiashi seemed stoical again, although his look on Neji was somewhat proud. A look that Hanabi never saw in his eyes when he looked at Hinata.

_I knew Neji would beat him._ Tenten although seemed a little relieved.

Naruto strengthen his grip on the rail, angry look focused on Neji. _Not this time..._

_It seems you are a failure after all._ Observer's smirk was obvious even when there wasn't anyone to see it.

_Coen! That was beginner's mistake. What were you thinking?_ Tora almost lost control over his technique as fear embraced him and froze his stomach.

* * *

"Now you can see the real power of destiny. Genius always triumphs against a dropout. That is how it always was and that is how it always will be. No one is able to change his destiny..." Neji's voice died out when he saw Coen slowly raising on his hands, knees and then on foot. _His tenketsus are blocked, he doesn't have any chakra. Why doesn't he just quit? _Neji could feel that feeling of intensive anger filling him up again.

Coen's knees were shaking, and when he spit on the ground, bloody dribble appeared. Despite that, he stood proud against Neji, showing no fear or respect.

"Your destiny is nothing but a blabber. If your crap about predetermined fate was actually true, no one could be blamed for his actions, because we wouldn't be able to do otherwise. But we are. We choose our destiny alone, and accept responsibility for it. Hinata knows it. I know it. And you know it too; you are just too afraid to accept responsibility that what are you now, what you did so far, is from your own will and from your own will only. You are nothing but a coward!" Coen spit on the ground again, this time with much more blood coming from his mouth, but he didn't care about it.

Neji's fury overpowered him again. Before judge or anybody could react, he moved against Coen with chakra concentrated in his right hand, landing a massive blow in his chest. Coen didn't even try to dodge; he just widened his eyes as enormous power crushed his ribs, his lungs, and his heart. As he was slowly flying through the air, he looked almost as if he was about to sleep. His eyes moved to the spot where he thought he saw Hinata, and he tried to form a little smile, but he wasn't sure if she could see him.

Everybody just looked with shocked expression on their faces as Neji struck Coen, sending him about twenty meters away. Hinata's eyes filled up with tears, as she turned her head away. _No! Please, don't let it happen again..._ But before the sadness could take over her, silence was so immense that she could clearly hear a weak 'Poof'.

_Phase two, success!_

Ground behind Neji exploded. Neji petrified as he could suddenly feel an enormous presence of chakra behind him. _Impossible! My Byakugan was on him for all the time we fought. There was no way he could..._ But as he tried to turn around, he knew he wasn't quick enough.

_Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!_

Coen moved with such speed that he looked more like a moving blur. There wasn't almost anybody in the whole crowd who could follow up with his movements. He was behind Neji sooner than Neji even managed to face him.

_Two strikes!_

As first strikes landed on his opponent, Neji could feel something was wrong. Instead of closing his tenketsus and stopping flow of his chakra, he could feel his chakra supply growing instead. Before he could try to apprehend what was going on, another series of strikes came.

_Four strikes!_

Neji's body started to burn with chakra, as not only he could feel Coen forcing his own chakra into him, but his chakra circulatory system was working stronger than anytime before._ So he doesn't know how to use Byakugan properly after all. What a low-rank idiot he is,_ Neji thought as his senses were getting more sensitive with each strike. After he finishes his technique, he will destroy him with one move.

_Eight strikes!_

_Sixteen strikes!_

Suddenly, Neji felt that his chakra was growing far too much. He never experienced such immense amount of chakra in his body. His chakra started to loose from his control. He concentrated his will to hold it up, but it was futile. It was slipping away from him.

_Thirty-two strikes!_

His chakra circulatory system was overworking. Neji could feel his physical strength fading as his body used his whole pool of energy and transformed it into chakra. While his limbs started to get heavy, his body was cracking with enormous amount of chakra. _I... can't... control... it...._

_Sixty-four strikes!_

As Coen landed last series of strikes, he forced all of his remaining chakra into Neji, making his body burn with bright blue color. Neji started to scream as chakra was flowing through all veins in his body in such amount that it started to tear him apart. His eyes shed blood tears as he was trying to control his chakra, but with no effect. He had never experienced anything like that.

"Now you can see you own genius, Neji." Coen was hard-breathing and barely standing on his legs, but he managed to lift his head and look at Neji while his body was burning in blue flames. "Unlike you, I truly mastered the Byakugan, forcing my entire chakra supply into your body and accelerating your chakra circulatory system about five times. You are now producing too much chakra for your body to be able to handle it. In less than minute, you will die from overpowering your body with chakra, exploding to pieces. An appropriate end for guy such as you."

"Maybe you are wondering how I managed to outsmart you and create a shadow clone so you wouldn't notice it. It was way too simple." Coen showed the weakest of the smirks he was able to create, although only Neji with his Byakugan could see it under the mask. "I never created it in battle. I hid under the ground before anybody was even here. Then I just waited and let one of my clones to fight you and took over when time was right. I knew that even your Byakugan couldn't distinguish real person from shadow clone. Too bad many of your clan quickly forgets that."

"And... maybe you're wondering how I could activate Byakugan when only my clone got the drop of your blood." Coen raised small ampoule with bright red liquid. "I would never lower myself to defeat you with your own Bloodline Limit. This is a small portion of Hinata's blood. The same Bloodline Limit from person you found worthless was actually the one who defeated you, and proved all of your babbling wrong. There is no such thing as destiny. Too bad you won't be around long enough to understand it." Coen turned away from Neji, forcing himself to not look on his last moments of life. He knew that Hinata would be shocked by his death at first, but soon she will understand how better her life is without that arrogant bully.

_Phase three, success!

* * *

_

"Neji..." Hiashi leaned back to his chair, while he could see his nephew burning in intense amount of chakra. _Is this how life of one of the best adepts from Hyuuga branch family will end?_

_This can't be true._ Tenten was staring as tears sprang from her eyes.

"Yes! He showed that freak who's the man!" Naruto was jumping with pure joy as Shikamaru was looking on arena with shocked expression. _How can that idiot celebrate when Neji's opponent just killed him without blink of eye? Man, I'd rather not be his opponent in this match._

"Incredible! I never thought somebody could beat Neji," Kiba was half-surprised half-pleased as he was staring with winning grin at Hinata, but he instantly dropped it when he saw Hinata turned unhealthily pale. "Hinata, are you all right? What's wrong?"

Hinata thought that her life was just turned upside down. _Neji-niisan... not you... please... come back..._ She tried to lean forward to call at him, but she couldn't get a single word through her cramped throat.

_It's futile. Even if I would end this match now, there's nothing I can do for that guy_, Genma was chewing his senbon as he was looking on Neji.

_Council will hear about your actions, Coen. You really overdid it this time!_ Observer was so furious that if somebody would approach him right now, he would end up like a smoldering corpse.

_I knew you could beat this guy, Coen. You are really something!_ Tora was grinning like an idiot, but he couldn't care less.

* * *

Coen was slowly counting in his head, knowing that Neji's life will end in very explosive way.

_I can't believe I wasted so much of my chakra on him, but it was necessary to make sure he won't be around here anymore. Now, Hinata, your life will be peaceful once again..._

_You fool, you could destroy him much easier if you would just use me._

_Like the hell I would. Do you really think I would lower myself to use you, even if my life would depend on it?_

_It seems we'll find out soon enough, hee hee hee....._

As Coen started to get confused what _he_ meant by that, his senses suddenly caught an abnormality in Neji's chakra. He quickly turned around to discover Neji still enfolded in huge blue-colored chakra cloak. _What is this? His body should explode right now. There's no way he can maintain so much chakra..._

In second, everything changed. Neji's chakra wasn't covering Neji anymore, it started to circulate around him by elusive speed, creating a strange deep-seated noise. Two currents of chakra separated from the whole mass and moved to Neji's back, reforming itself, while all other remnants of Neji's chakra were forced back inside his body again, generating a faint blue aura around his skin. As Coen was stunned by this scenery, along with the rest of the public, two masses of chakra on his back started to gain a shape. A shape of two pinpoint eagle-like wings, waving around like if they just burst to life and wanted to stretch themselves. Each of them was about seven feet long and two feet wide, big enough to cover Neji completely should he wanted it. As things started to calm down and wings frozen in majestic open pose, Neji lifted his head and Coen found himself staring into them.

He found himself staring into two eyes with color of a deep ocean floor.

* * *

Author's note : Okay, I hope you appreciated a little action, because there is only one chapter left before I end the first half of history about Coen and move on to something more romantic (sorry about that word). It's OK if you read it and not review, but it's really better if you do (even if only to criticize how bad it is, if you are right, I would be idiot to badmouth you for it, and I appreciate anything that will help me to write better stories for you).

- 7 -


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note : Well, here it is. Last chapter of the first half of history about Coen. After this, I plan to do a quick twoshot story, and then, the real fun can begin. I hope you will enjoy it... well, at least some parts of it.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any character mentioned in my stories.**

****************************************************************Chuunin exam***************************************************************************

"Dad, do you see that? What has happened to my cousin's eyes?" Hanabi seemed to take it better than her father, who was calm at first glance, but deep inside was quite shocked. _It is possible for him to ..._

"Hey, what's that strange thing around Neji? And why has his eyes such strange color?" Naruto had that foolish confused expression on his face again, moving his look from Neji to Shikamaru. _As if I would know the answer. It's too troublesome for me._ Shikamaru just sighed.

_I knew he would withstand it. Nothing can take Neji down,_ Tented was glad, although a bit scared. This had never happened in their training sessions before...

_It seems you will finally pay for your overconfidence in yourself._ Observer's smirk was back again, all fury from last minute completely forgotten.

_Dammit, what went wrong? Coen, if this is all part of another of your plan, you'd better had another two aces in your sleeve or otherwise you might get yourself killed for real._ Tora was worried so much that he even considered landing Coen a helpful hand, which he rejected immediately on thought what would Council do to him if he would really do it. And even this faded in compare what would Coen do to him.

* * *

_This is the only thing I hadn't exactly calculated in my plan._ Coen didn't even need to use Byakugan to know what happened to Neji. He knew it well enough, not from his own experience, but from the book he 'borrowed' from Hyuuga's archive. Hikome described it accurately enough. Fastened chakra circulation, wings on backs, and blue eyes... No doubt about it. Neji's Byakugan has moved to the new level. Shotou Byakugan!

Of course, it wasn't mentioned in the Hyuuga's founder book directly, and it took Coen a lot of time to be able to come up with theory that some members of Hyuuga clan were so gifted that they awakened some sort of new power. He even knew why. It was clear when he read the mission-report record book. On a verge of death, new level of Byakugan has awakened in these people and it probably gave them an incredible amount of power, making them strong enough to deal with even S-class missions. _It must have happened because I forced so much chakra into him. His body wouldn't be able to awaken it in its former state, but now..._ However, there was still that small thing Neji probably didn't know about this new Byakugan of his, if he knew anything at all. Coen found this in the record book, too. It was a reason why all missions ended by Hyuuga member's death. This new level just used too much of chakra and body energy, in fact so much that it used even the energy in their body cells itself, practically sucking off their life energy. Neji won't survive this technique's activation, surely not for too long.

_So, it means I'm now against highly-empowered Neji, although if I'll be able to last long enough, the pressure of his new Bloodline Limit should kill him. But I don't intend to win by default. I'll smash him despite this obstruction.

* * *

_

Neji's world turned upside down. Just when he thought he's going to die, his mind suddenly became much lighter, and all chakra ran free from his body, making him feel much better. Then it came back, but this time, he was able to control it. Although he felt something strange on his backs, the more surprising thing was his own body. Now he didn't just see his or his opponent's chakra, he was able to control it to such degree that it almost scared him. He could feel every last bit of chakra in him, and he knew he was now able to move and shape it just by his pure will. Self-confidence has flooded him as he looked up into Coen's eyes. This new power was everything he needed to crush him, and none of his plans will save him now.

Coen quickly reached to his pocket, swallowing another dark purple food pill. As the wave of weakness came across, he stood against it, forcing it to pass over quickly. He didn't have time for weakness. He needed more chakra if he had to have any chance against Neji. As soon as he could feel his chakra circulatory system producing new supply of chakra again, he charged directly against Neji.

Neji tried to move his hands into defense position, when he discovered that his hands don't obey him. He quickly looked at them, and after a second he knew what was wrong. His body was using all body energy he had and transforming it into chakra. He was probably still on his feet only because the amount of chakra in him was so massive that he was practically hovering above the ground, despite the fact he could feel his feet touching the sand. Now this was something unexpected. _How am I supposed to defend myself if I'm unable to move?_

Coen spotted it as soon as Neji. He smirked under his mask when he quickly drew three shurikens from his pocket and threw them at Neji. Shurikens slit through the air and were approaching Neji, they almost thrust into his body... Coen's eyes widened up. He didn't even see them move, he only saw that in one moment his shurikens were flying right against Neji, and in next second Neji's wings surrounded him, covering him with bright blue cloak against which shurikens struck and were deflected. Wings then returned to their former position, wide open on Neji's backs.

_I feared as much. Those wings make an excellent protection against all types of physical attacks. No shurikens, no kunais, and striking with my fist would probably hurt only me. So, what does that leave me with?_

_Lightning Release: Banquet of Lightning!_

Coen draw his hands forward, generating a several thunderbolts, which struck into the ground and aimed for Neji, moving by high speed and flawless aim. As Neji's wings covered him again, thunderbolts crashed into them, creating a huge smokescreen of dust and sand and making screeching sound. Even so, Coen knew the result of his technique sooner than public in the stadium.

_Dammit, my lightning jutsu isn't working either. How the hell am I supposed to get through that defense of his?_

_Do you even have to ask? Use me!_

_Buzz off!_

Coen's senses warned him, allowing him to dodge Neji's attack in last second. As he moved from place where he was standing, a ball of chakra landed there, creating an explosion that almost burned skin on Coen's hands.

_What was that?_ As Coen's jumped back, dodging another attack, he suddenly realised. _That Shotou Byakugan of his must give Neji absolute control of his chakra. Now he's able to attack me on every distance with pure chakra. Isn't that convenient?_

Neji's attacks were relentless and with excellent timing and aim. It took Coen's full attention to dodge them, not giving him even a one second to think about attack. As Neji's attacks were chasing Coen's trail, stadium started to encourage both fighters with loud screams.

* * *

_Neji, you really showed a mastery of your Byakugan. I don't remember any ninja of your age being able to awaken it._ Hiashi's look was proud, although sad. He knew what was going to happen in the very end of this match.

"That's not fair! How is Coen supposed to fight back?" Naruto's loud voice didn't reach Shikamaru only because he already put earplugs in his ears.

"Show him, Neji! Don't stop now! Destroy him!" Tenten was shouting almost as loudly as Naruto, forgetting everything about her dignity.

_This'll be your end, Coen-kun. As much as I can be disappointed that it won't be Council who'll end your life, I'm still glad you won't be bothering our clan anymore. _Observer relaxed as he watched Coen's escapes from Neji's attacks. He couldn't remember when he felt so good last time.

_Coen, do something! You can't win this match just by running!_ Tora was hoping his friend still had some kind of plan. But in front of Neji's show of power, maybe even his friend's swift brain may not be enough.

* * *

Maybe Coen heard his friend's thoughts, or he just grew tired of running. After dodging Neji's last chakra ball, he formed series of seals, activating his chakra circulatory system. Suddenly his body started to burn with new chakra, almost as much as when he unleashed his Bloodline Limit to acquire and activate Byakugan. But this time, nothing special happened, and when chakra calmed down a bit, it almost looked like he just wasted it. Results become obvious when Neji's next attack aimed right on him.

As it exploded, Coen suddenly disappeared. The public in stadium thought that he maybe get caught by it finally, but Hiashi and few better ninjas saw that Coen suddenly quickened his moves about three times, dodging it by almost inhuman speed, charging against Neji again. _Good, my powering-up jutsu still works. My body will be in a hell of pain after it wears off, but I don't expect to beat Neji with just some half-working jutsu. I have to use everything I have left to try and break through his defense._

Neji, of course, saw him. He sent a series of small, very quick chakra balls against him, making it look like he was shooting from machine gun. But every attack failed to land. Coen was just too fast to get hit by something like that. _Okay, this is my chance. _As was Coen approaching Neji, he started to pump up chakra in his right hand, generating a faint blue aura around it. _One last attack!_ Blue chakra around his fist started to generate chirping sound and small electrical sparks appeared around it, making it look like alleviated electrical cable.

Coen appeared right in front of Neji, striking his right fist against him while Neji's wings answered by enveloping Neji. When Coen's fist met with wings, electrical wildfire was created, striking from the place where two powers met to every direction, making it look like meeting point of two thunders, finding out who was stronger. Both of them held their own against each other, giving it everything they had.

A huge explosion, as both forces released. Coen was forced back, flying through entire arena, and crashed against a wall on the other side. As he landed, a blood came from his mouth, and his body, left with no chakra, slowly shifted on ground, while Neji seemed unharmed at all with wings still in their noble open pose.

* * *

_Well, it seems the match is over._ Genma decided to give Coen about ten seconds to get up before ending it.

_Yes!_ Observer almost blew his cover as he was looking on defeated Coen.

_No!_ Tora helplessly clenched his fists with such strength that he pierced his own skin. He could feel the blood on his fingers, but he didn't care.

Hinata wanted to cover her eyes. This match was just too much on her. Her cousin was on one side, sad and unhappy with his pose in life. Coen-kun was on other side, fighting for him, for her, and even for her cousin to change that destiny. Hinata felt pressure of all of that, and it almost made her faint.

* * *

_You see, you are helpless. You can't do anything on your own. You are powerless. You need me!_

_Shut up.... you...._

_What? You still refuse? What you can do right now? You thought about it, used everything you could come up with and depleted all of your energy. You don't even have power to stand up!_

_I... I will... not..._

_You fool! I'll show you how this match should have happened right from the start!_

_No... stop...

* * *

_

As Genma stepped forward to claim Neji a winner and stop another attempt for bloodshed, a shockwave ran through the arena and almost knocked him to the ground. Neji's wings immediately closed around Neji, protecting him from more shockwaves that followed the first one. As Neji started to look where these pulses were coming from, a body on the other side of arena slowly raised. But instead of rising to its knees, it raised on all four. Then from its mouth came a painful roar, creating another shockwave that Neji felt even through his chakra wings. His improved Byakugan showed him something he couldn't believe.

_Impossible! He used up all of his chakra in that last attack. What kind of another cheap trick is this?_ Coen's chakra circulatory system suddenly started to burn with strange, poison-like green-colored chakra. But instead of just running through chakra vessels, it leaked out of his body, enveloping him. And it started to take a form. Neji gulped as another shockwave almost moved him from his spot.

* * *

_Yes. Yes! Finally you let me out!_

_I didn't! Get back you damned monster!_

_Oh? Does that mean you don't want to win, to crush that fool to the ground and break his spin?_

_..._

_I knew you would agree! Let's do it!

* * *

_

A poison-like green chakra reached a whole new level as it leaked out from Coen. It tore his mask apart, showing his face. It looked almost as normal human face, except of his eyes. His Byakugan wore off when he was pushed against wall by Neji and they returned to their normal shape. But now, they didn't look like human eyes at all. They resembled more a lizard. A reptile.

As new chakra cloak started to gain shape, it pinpointed and longed Coen's ears, fingers and mouth. A dangerously-looking tail appeared right above Coen's bottom, swinging around. When it crashed to the wall, it scattered pieces of stone all around. Coen was looking like a monster more than a human with each passing moment.

* * *

_This is starting to get dangerous. Maybe I should end it..._ Genma looked up to place where Hokage was sitting along with Kazekage. But he didn't make any sign to stop fight, so Genma didn't interfere.

_Excellent! Now you stepped over line for sure!_ Observers put his hands together, prepared to leave, inform Council and suggest Coen's immediate assassination. But before he could really do it, a whirlwind of feathers raised around him. As observer confusingly looked around, he could feel his eyelids getting heavier. _An illusion jutsu..._ He fell asleep before he could come up with efficient defense.

_I have taken care of this problem, Coen. Now, show that I haven't misplaced my trust in you._ Tora just sighed, as he created illusion around sleeping observer. _I might have done the most stupid thing in my life right now._

Naruto gasped and clutch his hands around rail as Nine-Tailed Fox started to scream in him. _Such power..._ it took him great deal of his will to hold him inside.

"What... what is happening?" Kankuro just stared at arena along with Temari, while Gaara's eyes shined with cruel pleasure. _So, there are more of them. Good..._

Hinata's fear was deepening more and more with each moment of battle continuing under her. _This can't end well. Please, stop it!_ She wanted to scream it at them, but her throat let it out only as a weak whisper, not heard even by Kiba, sitting right next to her.

* * *

_Yes! Finally you cooperate with me. Let's show that brat what real power is all about!_

_Don't get too excited. I'm the one who will fight him. You just stand back._

_Heh, and miss all the fun? No way!

* * *

_

Neji embraced himself as shockwaves ended, and a foul smell of strange chakra reached him. _Could this be really chakra? It's almost disgusting... and too strong. It's overwhelming. It can't be his!_

"Say hello." Although it was Coen who said it, his voice was now deeper, stronger and deadlier. When he raised his head, green chakra around it made it look like a head of some animal. But from all the animals it resembled most... "Say hello to Five-Tailed Dragon!" The sentence was ended by another roar, this time creating a huge sound wave that crushed against Neji's defending wings with such power that in wall behind Neji appeared clefts.

* * *

_This is how I like you, Coen-kun. Come on, let me loose more of my power on him!_

_Step back! One tail is far enough on him!_

_You let me out for my first real battle and I am supposed to hold myself back? You are really naive, Coen-kun!_

_I'm naive, but you are stupid. If you let out more than one tail, the intensity of your chakra will burn my flesh from bones and my blood will evaporate. You won't even be out long enough to move a finger!_

_It's really a curse to be sealed in someone so weak. You better deal with this guy before I get angry enough to not care about your well being!

* * *

_

Coen and Neji were staring at each other again, like when their match started. Except for the fact that both unleashed everything they had, and their battle just rose to a whole new level. Both were highly powered-up, and both knew that this match could end only by death of one of them. And none of them wanted to be the dead one.

As chakra around Neji started to pulse again, keeping apart small balls of it, Coen charged against Neji again, leaving a trail of scattered ground behind him. Neji focused his mind, and aimed his shoots on Coen, shooting them with excellent precision. Balls flew against him, but right before impact, Coen disappeared from their way, making them explode next to him or behind him, doing no damage. Neji didn't give up, shooting more and more of his chakra, until it looked like Coen was under ceaseless chakra barrage that turned arena ground into wreckage. Neji realised this attack won't work right in moment Coen get in front of him, stretching out his fist and striking Neji directly into face. Or more accurately, trying to strike him, but Neji's wings interfered again, catching Coen's attack. Coen just angered, and pressed against them with greater power, creating such immense force that Neji could feel the heat of impact on his face even through his protection. Then, all of sudden, Neji's wings opened up with fierceness that pushed Coen back through half of arena, giving Neji a moment to get over Coen's attack.

As Coen roared from disappointment of defending against his attack, Neji realised that his Byakugan was still working. Maybe if he can concentrate on chakra in his body, and let it move his body instead of his muscles... Neji concentrated so hard that he could feel his brain almost tearing apart, but it worked! His hand slightly moved. Great! Now, just to find out something that he could use...

_Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Air Palm!_

Before he realised what was going on, Coen was right before him again, and Neji could only point his hand on him, when his Byakugan activated on his own and enormous wave of chakra charged from his open palm, striking Coen with brute force. Coen tried to withstand it, but pure pressure of it pushed him against a wall on the other side of stadium. Entire wall shook and few parts crumbled to the arena. But when the dust subsided, Coen only looked angrier than before, although a bit weary.

_You fool! What are you doing? Just burn him!_

_Are you out of your mind already? I don't know any fire release jutsu!_

_And you're saying this to me?_

As Coen opened his mouth, Neji's wings embraced again, together with Neji who knew this couldn't be good. His expects came true when he saw giant stream of green flames coming right against him. Although his wings caught and divided them so it only hit the wall, Neji could feel temperature around him raising a hell quickly. By this speed, he will be burned to a crisp in less than few seconds. Dammit, what should he do?

_Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Palm Heavenly Spin Absolute!_

Neji could suddenly feel his body rotating, creating a typhoon with him in center which sucked all flames in him and sent them directly into sky, cooling the air around him and protecting him from more flames blazing from Coen's mouth. Coen stopped after he realized his attack was useless.

* * *

_I'm really growing tired of this. Can't you take care of him even with my power? How lame._

_Shut up! In case you missed it, you are sucking in this too._

_Then give me control over your body, so I could really crush him._

_As if. Get lost!

* * *

_

"This battle is more and more intensive with every moment, don't you think Hinata? Hinata?" Kiba was worried again as he saw Hinata trembling on her seat.

_Please, somebody stop them. This isn't right. Stop them!_ Hinata's eyes filled with tears, as she knew no one is allowed to stop this match except the judge, and he won't stop the match until the victor is claimed. But it still wasn't fair. Somehow she had to stop it.

_Neji seems he has used a lot of his chakra and Coen looks rather weary too. This match can't go on for much longer._ Tora was praising for Coen's victory as he watched the enormous flames from Coen's mouth almost burning Neji down before he deflected them.

* * *

Coen jumped. New cloak of chakra allowed his muscles to overdo themselves, rising in height about 20 meters above Neji where he started to rotate, forcing all of his chakra in his cloak, enwrapping his body. When the gravity started to take over, he prepared for great impact, smiling with cruel smile. Only one of them will stay on his feet after this kind of attack!

Neji saw what was Coen doing and prepared himself. This is it! Last moment that decides entire battle! He drew out his entire chakra supply, knowing he won't need it after this.

_Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Air Palm!_

Neji's Air Palm struck into Coen, trying to stop him in his move and toss him away. For a second, Coen really stopped in one place in air and all people in stadium hold their breath. Then Neji frowned as he could feel his chakra depleting, his attack wore away and Coen struck into his wings, which protected him one last time. Enormous explosion was created, and whole arena fogged with dust and residues of chakra. No one was able to see result of that desperate attack and even more desperate defense, and people were standing on their seats in attempt to see better and be the first who will see who was still standing and who was finally defeated.

Coen coughed. He was thrown away after that impact, but Five-Tailed was still out, enclosing him with its foul chakra. When he looked where Neji was supposed to be, he saw him leaning against wall. His wings were gone, along with his blue eyes. Actually, Neji's eyes were closed with small trickles of blood coming from them. He wasn't moving, although a small rising and diminishing of his chest revealed he was still breathing.

* * *

_Yes!_ Tora was dancing on the floor like madman, not caring a bit about who could hear or see him. _Coen win! He showed them all! He is true genius!_

_No!_ Tenten was leaning out of her place, wishing her eyes were deceiving her.

"That's man! He showed Neji what is his destiny good for!" Naruto was jumping in air as he was hugging anyone who was so stupid to come near him. This stopped when Shikamaru punched him and sent him to the ground.

Hinata let a sigh of relief came out from her mouth. This was best result she could hope for. No one died, and match was over. But when she looked at Coen-kun again, she suddenly felt that aura of death around him. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure that he will accept ending of this match.

* * *

_This isn't fair! I want to kill him!_

_Shut up! He's defeated, and he will die from exhaustion of activating Shotou Byakugan. There's no need to kill him now._

_Yes there is! He's the first opponent on whom I could get out of you, and I should let him die by himself? No way!_

_Get back you damned monster! I said you'll leave him be!_

_And how exactly do you plan to stop me?

* * *

_

Coen could feel drops of sweat on his cheeks as he realized that he wasn't master of his body anymore. As he moved against Neji, he tried to fight back, but Five-Tailed was too strong on him, and to be honest, one part of him still wanted to kill Neji with his own hands for what he has done to Hinata and for what he forced him to do to defeat him. He didn't even slow down when judge realised what he was about to do and stepped in his way to stop him. Coen just swing his arm, pushing him to the rather destroyed wall of the stadium as he was drawing near to Neji.

_No!_ Before Kiba could stop her, Hinata braced herself up and jumped right to the stadium, prepared to defend Neji-niisan with her own body. She won't lose another member of family! Not if she can prevent it. As she stepped in front of him with her hands wide spread, she could almost hear her cousin whisper. _Get...away...Hinata._ Never! She must protect him! She embraced herself as Coen-kun was charging against her, closed her eyes as she saw him coming nearer and nearer, she could almost feel his hands moving toward her chest...

_No! Hinata, step out! This doesn't concern you! Please!_

_Shut up! She's in our way! She has to die as that fool!_

_Never! I won't let you hurt Hinata!_

_Too late! You can't stop me now!_

**Smack!**

Drop of blood fell onto the ground, followed by another one, and another, and another...

Hinata let her eyes closed, prepared for massive pain in her chest. Or will she die immediately without even feeling pain? She knew she wasn't reasonable, she didn't have anything to stop Coen-kun. But she just had to protect Neji-niisan! She had to! She didn't want to lose him!

But when the silence was too pressing against her ears and pain still didn't appear, Hinata managed to open her eyes for a bit. She gulped when she saw what has happened.

Coen was standing right before her, his right hand raised against Hinata with chakra claws centimeters from her throat while his left hand was buried into his own right hand's flesh, holding it back. As was his right hand trembling to free herself from grasp of left hand, she could see the power pressing between them. Both were equal, and both were fighting. She raised her eyes higher, and she found herself staring into Coen's eyes. Although they were now eyes of animal, she had a feeling that something behind them was still...

"Hinata..." Coen whispered, his voice moving from different heights and changing about three times before ending a word, making it very difficult to understand. But Hinata felt she can understand every single letter. "Hinata...please...run..." Coen started to shake, as was his right hand trying to reach Neji, even through Hinata as an obstacle, while his left hand was pulling it back. Hinata just shook her head, eyes filled with tears, and when she looked at Coen, he could feel his hearth tearing apart.

* * *

_See? She's an obstacle! She's trying to take our revenge from us! She has to die for this!_

_I would rather kill myself than to lay a finger on Hinata!_

_Don't worry, I'll kill her gladly for you!_

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

* * *

Green chakra around Coen started to form an aggressive tornado around him, circling and twisting with each passing moment. But instead of going out of Coen's body, it seemed to return to it, although Coen himself didn't move a muscle, except for his own hands which were still struck in their fight.

_What are you doing you fool! Kill them! Kill them all!_

_No... I have better plan. I may don't have any chakra left, but I can still use enough of yours to do the same thing I did to Neji. Maybe it's not enough to fill my entire body, but I'm sure that just overloading my brain will be enough for it to be damaged beyond even yours healing capabilities!_

_What?! But then we'll both die! You can't possibly prefer that girl's life before your own!_

_I can, and I will! It'll take both of us, and I'll die happily with knowledge that I never harmed her! So, will you withdraw? You know I won't hesitate one moment!_

_... I will remember this, Coen-kun..._

Chakra cloak around Coen slowly started to subside, along with animal marks on Coen's body. As was chakra returning, Coen's eyes started to resemble human's once more with each mass of chakra gone. Whole stadium was in shock, as mighty beast was subdued by presence of pale, white-eyed girl. Hiashi just didn't believe his eyes, while Hanabi was staring at her sister with her mouth wide open.

When last of foul green chakra was gone, Coen felt that if he moves, he will probably faint. He had still fingers of his left hand sank into flesh of his right hand, and could feel the drops of blood coming from open wound, but he couldn't find strength to get them out. Plus, if he would do it, he would probably die from blood loss.

"Hinata...why?" his voice was almost as a voice of a dead man, scaring Hinata even more than she already were, but she managed to respond. "I... I didn't w-want for N-Neji-niisan t-to die. I-It's not his fault t-that he's u-unhappy with his d-destiny, and I ... I d-don't hold any i-ill will against him. S-so, please... spare him!" She slowly reached her fingers and softly clasped them with Coen's right hand, looking into his eyes with plea in her beautiful white eyes.

_Hinata, you'll never stop surprising me. Your power of kindness and forgiveness should be cared like a national treasure._

_..._

_Silent, aren't we? Well, that's good, because I don't want to hear about you for a long time!_

"I..." _I would like to thank you, Hinata. For your kind spirit that awaken me right in the last moment, for your power of forgiveness that let Neji live. And for..._ Coen wanted to say so much, but his lips weren't obeying him. First he thought that Five-Tailed in him tried to do something, but true reason was much simpler. His body was just too exhausted.

Then Neji coughed, blood coming from his mouth. Hinata immediately turned to him, begging for him not to die. Her Byakugan told her that Neji's body was suffering from total exhaustion and he won't probably survive for more than few minutes. As her eyes filled with tears, Coen knew he had to do something.

Very slowly, centimeter by centimeter, his right hand reached his food pill pocket. Every movement, every clench of his muscles intensified the pain he was already feeling, but he forced himself to continue, despite his weary and achy body. When his fingers finally found the pill he was looking for, he let a small cough from his mouth, catching Hinata's attention.

"Neji... save him... this..." Coen wanted to say more, but he already could feel his eyes trying to close and his mind to turn off. He was staying conscious just by power of his pure will.

Hinata timidly reached her fingers to Coen's hand, taking the bright blue-colored food pill and gently opened Neji's mouth, putting the pill in it. Neji managed only to swallow it, he couldn't even chew.

For long time, nothing happened, and Hinata feared the worst as she was kneeling next to Neji, holding his hands in hers and only wishing for him to wake up. Then she thought she could feel a move. Very slight, almost insignificant, but it was there! One of Neji's fingers moved, then two of them. Then Neji managed to open his eyes. They looked terrible, filled with blood, but they moved and focused on Hinata's scared, and now relieved, face.

"Hinata...?" Neji's voice sounded like emery brushing against stone, but he was alive! Hinata hugged him, overcame by happiness. With her Byakugan, she could see that Neji's chakra circulatory system, which just a minute ago looked dried for good, had a small spark of chakra in it, slowly growing in size and sending very faint streams of chakra in Neji's body. Hinata was so glad that she could feel her hearth so light it could almost float itself. She turned to thank Coen-kun for his food pill... and stunned. He was gone, without any trace of him.

* * *

"You are total and absolute fool, you know that?" Tora was scolding his friend again, but even he couldn't get really angry on him when he was in such pitiful state. Coen was lying on his bed in his own house, where Tora dragged him right when Hinata let Neji swallow that food pill. Now he was looking on him, with all scars and injuries, and did a mental note to buy more healing ointment and bandages. A lot, **lot** of it.

"You went through all that trouble, awaken your Bloodline Limit, mastered the infamous Hyuuga's Byakugan, and even let out Five-Tailed in you, and for what? Neji's still alive, and because I get you out of there before the judge announced result of the match, you were disqualified. Can't you even explain why did you give Hinata that pill?"

Coen didn't answer. In fact, he couldn't answer even he wanted. And he didn't want to. Reason? Because one part of him knew what Hinata would really want, and that she didn't want her cousin to die, even though he caused her such injury and humiliated her. She never blamed others for her powerlessness, she only took it as a sign that she must get stronger herself. A lesson that Coen learned almost too late. And yet again, Hinata saved him from doing the same mistake Neji did in her match. He could never pay her back for what she did for him. Although one part of him created that food pill for Neji to save him, he knew he wouldn't use it, even if he wouldn't let Five-Tailed take over. It was only thanks to Hinata that Neji will live henceforth.

"Aren't you at least worried what could Council do? From what I know, you should never let others know that you have a Five-Tailed in you. What do you think they will do when they discover what you did in Chuunin exam?" Unlike the first question, Coen knew the answer on this one. But he didn't answer either. It was much simpler to finally close eyes and let his consciousness sleep for a while. For a **very** long while.

* * *

"Coen really stepped over the line this time." Voice was absolutely empty of any emotions, but still strong and reached everyone in the room without problems. "Although our observer was mysteriously disabled before he could confirm it, it's clear that Coen used his Five-Tailed in match against Hyuuga Neji. An act that we strictly forbidden him to do!"

"I would like to make clear that we didn't tell him exactly he can't use it in his match. We only told him not to use it."

"All right, all right." Voice now sounded a bit edgy, but his owner was still controlling himself. "Point is that Coen has broken our rules – again! Something like this can't go unpunished. I vote for immediate death of his. Whether his companion Tora should die with him will be decided after the investigation and Tora's interrogation." Small flashes appeared, blue for agreeing, red for disagreeing, and white if the user forbear the voting. Step by step, eleven of thirteen flashes appeared, all blue-colored.

"Grandmaster, what is your opinion?" Question was only formal, questioner probably didn't doubt that leader will vote for Coen's death.

"I vote for letting Coen go, along with his friend. His lesson has fulfilled its purpose."

"What?!" The user almost dropped his technique which concealed his voice along with face, only showing how shocked he was. Others controlled themselves better.

"We knew that Coen would use the Five-Tailed Dragon sooner or later. We did everything we could to prepare him for that moment, to not let him be controlled by this beast. And I believe we succeeded."

"But he didn't control it! It was absolutely clear! The Five-Tailed overcame him!" Now questioner ended in embarrassing silence, realizing that he just admitted he was watching the entire match with his own eyes.

"Yes, that's true. But in the end, he was able to subdue the beast with his own will, not thanks to some technique or fear from us. I believe this was the most valuable lesson we could give him and which he really learned in the entire time we were teaching him." After it, blue lights slowly disappeared and reappeared as red, while only one blue light remained. When last, white sparkle, appeared, it was decided. "Coen, along with Tora, will not be punished for what happened, and this incident will never be discussed again as Coen's failure. That's all."

_You! You made fool of me again! But I can wait! Once, just once, you'll do a mistake, and not even the Grandmaster himself will be able to save you from my grasp, Five-Tailed One!

* * *

_

"Thank you, Tora, for your report of what happened." Shadowy person was still hidden in shadows, and Tora didn't mind. If someone would discover it, he couldn't tell, even under torture, who was it, and Tora felt it would be best this way. Besides, no one knew about this... at least he hoped.

"Orders remain unchanged. Be close to him, very close. You may be only one of two things that keep Coen-kun safe and sane, and that is most important thing right now. Although I'm sure he will be alright in matter of days, maybe even hours, and he will carry on his task to protect Naruto, his emotions are still unclear for him. You must be a rock, a solid cliff against a tide, where he can find peace and safety."

"I will." Tora seemed like he wanted to go already, but then he asked. "Excuse me, Master, but what is the other thing that keeps Coen sane?"

A soft laugh. "If you don't know it by now, than you possess even worse observing talent than I thought." Tora disappeared with shameful feeling and red cheeks.

* * *

_Hinata._ Coen wasn't dreaming about her, not exactly, but even in his deep slumber, he could feel her presence, see her gleaming pearl eyes, soft pale skin, small cute mouth, shining blue hairs... He didn't know what was happening to him, but knew that he would do anything to protect her. And now, after his fight with Neji, he knew that he will be able to protect her even from himself. And that was the most important thing he learned. _Protect someone from others and not be able to protect him from yourself is pointless._ _Hinata, I promise that from now on, you are absolutely safe from anyone. Even from me! And that... makes me feel really good_. After that, new wave of slumber rolled over him, and Coen fell to even deeper sleep.

* * *

Author's note : As promised, this ends my six chapter long story, and I'm going to move on the sequel. I'm sorry if some parts here sounded like a cliche, they probably really were, but there was nothing I could do about it. If you review on what you liked (or not), I can fix it in my later stories, or even update this one to get rid of it, so feel free to review.

- 9 -


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